THE SALMON, CHARR AND TROUT FAMILY Salmonidae

COHO SALMON Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum, 1792)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced - Non-reproducing?. Stocked as a game fish by Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries in recent years. Currently known only from the North River drainage. Limited reproduction has occured in Third Herring Brook, Norwell, since the 1980s but recruitment may not be sufficient to sustain the species (J. Bergin pers. com., 1992).

RAINBOW TROUT Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. First introduced into Massachusetts in 1883, they were stocked as fingerlings until the 1940s. Today, catchable-sized fish are stocked statewide. Reproducing populations of rainbow trout are restricted to a dozen or so streams in the Connecticut, Deerfield, Westfield, and Housatonic River drainages. In Massachusetts, coexisting and naturally reproducing populations of brook, brown, and rainbow trout occur in only one tributary to the Housatonic River in Lanesborough.

SOCKEYE SALMON Onchorynchus nerka (Walbaum 1792) D

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. Stocked in Onota Lake, Pittsfield, and Laurel Lake, Lee, as a game species between 1968 and 1980. MDFW biologist L. Daly reports that reproduction occurred in Laurel Lake and that a remnant population exists (J. Bergin pers. com., 1992).

ATLANTIC SALMON Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native Extirpated. In Massachusetts, Atlantic salmon are historically known from the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers. Populations may also have been present in other suitable rivers before they were overfished or dammed, but there is very little non-anecdotal information. Early accounts mention their great abundance, particularly in the Merrimack, where 60 to 100 were taken daily near the river mouth in 1790. The Connecticut River had a large run until dams constructed at Hadley (1794) and Turners Falls (1798) eliminated the upstream salmon run in as little as twelve years. Additional dam construction at Lawrence on the Merrimack River in 1847 destroyed one of the finest Atlantic salmon runs in New England. Stolte (1981) estimated that the historic population in the Merrimack drainage possibly ranged from 8,940 to 26,820 adults. For many years, ongoing attempts to restore Atlantic salmon to Massachusetts have had limited success. Numbers of adult Atlantic salmon, that were stocked as yearlings, are now captured at fish-lifts at the Holyoke Dam on the Connecticut River and the Lawrence Dam on the Merrimack River from May to June. These adults salmon are artificially spawned under hatchery conditions, their young are released into selected tributaries during the following spring. Following the release of millions of fry and smolts over a twenty year period, the first redds and eggs of Atlantic salmon were found in the mainstem of the Westfield River by biologists John O'Leary and Don Pugh in November, 1994. Landlocked Atlantic salmon have been introduced into Quabbin, Wachusett, and Littleville Reservoirs. Counts of fishes currently passing Massachusetts fishways are available

BROWN TROUT Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. Brown trout were first released into Massachusetts waters in 1887. Today, reproducing brown trout occur in most coldwater streams of the Berkshire-Valley and Central-Uplands of Massachusetts, but they are only sporadically found further east. Aside from stream gradient and temperature, a major factor limiting the distribution of brown trout in Massachusetts is acidification. Brown trout will not survive in areas that do not have the capacity to naturally buffer acids.

BROOK TROUT or BROOK CHARR Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill, 1814)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. Reproducing brook trout are found all across Massachusetts, including the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Due to widespread introductions, native populations are imposible to distinguish from stocked populations. Brook trout are common in western Massachusetts. The eastern popultions have declined and today, only a few, geographically isolated populations are found. Likewise, salter-brook trout that were historically found in one or two tributaries to Massachusetts Bay have been extirpated. Salters are still known from tributaries to Nantucket Sound, Buzzards and Narragansett bays but in much reduced numbers.

LAKE TROUT or LAKE CHARR Salvelinus namaycush (Walbaum, 1792)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. Lake trout were first introduced in Massachusetts in 1952 with stocks of fingerlings from the Lake Ontario region of New York. The later stocks (1965) come from a Finger Lakes deepwater strain (Seneca-Cayuga Lakes). Lake trout are found only in Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs.