One hundred and fifty years ago, "sea trout" of the Atlantic provinces included two species, Salvelinus alpinus, and Salvelinus fontinalis.
Arctic char (S. alpinus) now exist in small numbers in New Brunswick and Gaspé, and more substantial populations inhabit Newfoundland, northern Quebec, and Labrador. "Speckled" or "brook" trout (S. fontinalis) are widespread, from Labrador south to the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.
These days, "sea trout" in eastern waters can include introduced brown trout (Salmo trutta) or transplanted rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Sea-run rainbows are called "steelhead" in Western Canada. Browns and rainbows were introduced in the late 1800s. Both species have established breeding populations in parts of the east.
Saltwater is a lifestyle choice for many salmonids born with downstream access. The term "landlocked" is often misapplied to populations that live in fresh water by choice. Sometimes downstream or upstream passage is blocked. In other cases these landlocked species, like the Atlantic salmon of the Shubenacadie River, have the option to leave, but some choose to stay in freshwater. This usually happens when freshwater habitats offer abundant food resources and other elements critical for survival. On the Shubenacadie, fall spawners come from the Bay of Fundy and from lakes. There are some genetic differences, but it's hard to determine if saltwater habits are habitat-driven or destined by genes. There may be a genetic propensity driving some folks to buy Volvos.
Speckled trout remain a common freshwater fish in Atlantic Canada. Many trout stay inland and never descend to estuaries. However, if seasonal habitats become limited or if juvenile populations become ovecrowded in small streams, competition for limited food and space in relatively short, sterile Atlantic rivers might prompt a young trout to journey downstream to the estuary. Sea-run speckled trout moved north, colonizing new rivers as the glacial ice sheet receded about 12,000 years ago. The fresh water form most likely evolved from sea-run ancestors.
What is the sea life of a brook trout? Sixty years ago, H.C. White studied a population near the Moser River, on Nova Scotia's eastern shore. He found they descended that river during April and May, when they were angled in the inner estuary in large numbers. In the harbour they fed upon minnows, elvers, isopods, amphipods, and sand worms. On average these trout spent about two months (64.5 days) of the year at sea. Some wandered 13 km (8 miles) or more from their home stream, and even ascended other streams. Local fishermen reported seeing schools of trout in water 1.5 to 3 m (5-10 ft) deep around the inner islands off the coast near Moser River. Trout were also observed in groups around some private wharves on the mainland coast where fish were being cleaned. White documented that sea-run speckled trout travel in schools along the coast, feeding upon various fish species and crustaceans. Trout were observed darting about as if feeding, while schools moved quickly past. Schools usually had the same size trout, probably a reflection that large trout have a tendency to eat small trout. White also noted fewer schools of larger fish. Many were angled from clear sea water along rocky shores. Their backs were a light blue-green, sides silvery and bellies pearl-white. This colouration blended with the background so well that they were hard to see.
Several studies report that speckled trout in the ocean eat rainbow smelt, Atlantic silversides, and juvenile hake, as well as shrimp, amphipods, isopods , and terrestrial beetles. Sea-run speckled trout grow fast, reaching 2.7 kg (6 lb.) or more.
How common were sea-run speckled trout? I studied one eastern Nova Scotian river with a tradition of fishing sea trout on the long weekend in May. One senior citizen recalled travelling a whole day by horse and wagon from a nearby county to get to this river in the 1920s. She and her father spent a day catching sea trout and loading them into the wagon, then a day to return home. When I operated a fish fence above the mouth of that same river in the 1980s, during the two-week period centred around that long weekend, we caught fewer than four dozen trout. In 60 years the sea trout population plummeted from wagon-loads to a few dozen. The legend lives on, but not the run.
Tough times for sea trout began in the latter half of the 19th century, when forest cutting and land clearing in the Maritimes reached a peak. Many eastern rivers and streams were straightened to facilitate log and pulp drives. Dams for water-powered mills were built upstream from estuaries. Rules of the day required fish ladders, but few operable ones existed. Mill waste was deliberately dumped and frequently clogged channels downstream. Sea-run trout, smelt, gaspereau, salmon and others on annual spawning runs moved upstream to find passage blocked by the first dam. There they were pitch-forked, netted, or otherwise removed for several years until runs collapsed. Poaching was rampant. The situation grew so extreme that at least one province hired an inspector for several years in the 1860s to report on the condition of rivers and their fisheries.
I believe that a sea-run speckled or brook trout's life is variable, depending upon the state of rivers and estuaries, and far more complex than White was able to document. For example, speckled trout in many Maritime estuaries are the unofficial targets of a winter ice fishery ostensibly for smelt. One "respected" member of the local community bragged of taking more than 50 large sea-run speckled trout in the estuary associated with the river where I operated a fish fence. His illegal winter catch amounted to more than the entire May sea-trout run on the river later that year! There's little question why these fish are gone.
White's observation that Moser River sea-run speckled trout descend to the estuary in spring and return to the river from the estuary in mid-summer might now be altered by acid rain, persistent summer droughts and low, warm water conditions in our rivers. Sea trout summer survival depends upon deep, cool, oxygenated fresh water. They can tolerate an acidity range of 5, but prefer a pH of 6 or better. For that reason, sea trout will seek out gypsum sinks on a river for their moderated acidity and cool temperatures. In more and more watersheds, the cold water layer that forms in deep lakes during the summer no longer serves as a refuge for these fish. It becomes oxygen-depleted from excessive amounts of organic nutrients-added as cottage effluents, farm pollutants, golf course sprays, and runoff from other human "developments." Cold water summer refuges in lakes and rivers have become limiting factors to sea trout. Agriculture, forestry, and other land-clearing operations have altered rivers. Wide and shallow, they flush after rains like toilets, and offer fewer holding pools for large fish in mid-to-late summer.
To determine if sea run speckled trout travel in the open ocean, I purchased herring nets for a local friend and commercial fisherman with the understanding that any trout by-catch would be reported. He found that large sea-run speckled trout do occupy the open sea, far from shore, and away from islands. There also appears to be some movement along the coast. Tagged rainbow trout released as 20cm (8 in.) fish into the South River, Antigonish County have shown up in Bonne Bay, Newfoundland, and on the north shore of Quebec.
Brown trout are well adapted to estuaries and live longer than speckled trout. I've tagged individuals that eventually returned to tip the scales at more than 6 kg (13.2 lb.). Personal angling experience has taught me that some large browns ascend rivers each spring after spending the winter in estuaries or at sea. I catch them heading upstream with a flesh colour that indicates a saltwater diet. After a summer in the river, they are not as deeply-coloured-¬or as tasty!
Most sea-run speckled and brown trout are particularly vulnerable after ice-out in early spring. Those that escape the winter's gauntlet of ice fishing shacks congregate at the mouths of our rivers with other trout and Atlantic salmon that have moved downstream. Here rainbow smelt amass before upriver migrations. Rising water temperatures and concentrated prey mean that hungry trout begin seriously feeding. They are too easily caught by anglers using bait.
While studying to become a biologist at an Atlantic university, I was once invited by friends to swing salmon (using gill nets illegally at night in a pool). I declined the offer. Nets are still used by greedy, thoughtless people to catch salmon and sea trout on rivers where populations persist. The river near my university empties into the Bay of Fundy, where Atlantic salmon stocks have all but collapsed. The problem is not just "at-sea mortality."
While poachers still ply the rivers, we've an equally sorry history of commercial fishery management. Fishermen blame governments for rules that aren't fair, don't fit or make sense. Politicians have too often ignored the science and warnings of some fishermen over matters like the northern cod, while other fishermen empty the oceans. I fear that sea trout have been, and will continue to be, a victim of blind commercial technologies that quietly kill and dump too many non-target species.
Sea-trout stocks in Atlantic Canada are mere shadows of their former selves, reduced by overfishing and habitat losses. Smelt shack devotees and spring "meat" fishermen should rethink their attitudes. Stiffer legislation is necessary to give sea-trout populations a much-needed human predator "break."
There is hope. Fish & game, river associations, and other conservation groups are restoring aquatic habitats for sea trout and Atlantic salmon in eastern rivers-in spite of mediocre federal support. Beyond the shadow of a trout, this is a worthy cause!
