U.S. Protection Sought for Type of Brook Trout
By Hugh Mcdiarmid Jr., Detroit Free Press
Mar. 7–A large, lake-dwelling species of brook trout would become Michigan’s only federally protected fish — and possibly a hurdle in the path of a controversial Upper Peninsula nickel mine — under a move to declare it an endangered species.
The Sierra Club’s Michigan chapter and the Huron Mountain Club near Big Bay have asked the federal government to list coaster brook trout from one Lake Superior tributary as endangered, a status that would ban fishing and severely restrict disturbance of the waters where they live.
The move could force additional restrictions on the controversial Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co. mine — which is proposed at the headwaters of the Salmon-Trout River. The river is the only one on Lake Superior’s south shore where the coasters reproduce naturally. The entire population of the Salmon-Trout coasters is thought to be fewer than 200 fish.
Last month’s request came only days after Kennecott formally sought state permits to drill the mine.
It was coincidental, said Marvin Roberson, a representative of the Sierra Club’s Michigan chapter. He said research on the coaster brook trout had advanced to the point where the case for endangered status was convincing.
“Had the mine never been proposed, the chances are very, very good that we would have still asked for this protection at this time,” Roberson said Friday.
Logging and road building — both of which can increase river sediment and alter stream temperature — are major threats to the fish, experts say.
Now environmentalists are concerned that toxic acids and heavy metals that would seep from the mining operation’s waste rock would pollute the river if they are not properly contained or treated.
Kennecott officials maintain that their operation would be so clean that it would make no difference whether the coasters and their habitat receive federal protection.
“We’ve designed this project to be protective of the coaster brook trout and any other fish,” said Jon Cherry, Kennecott spokesman.
“The water leaving our treatment plant will be cleaner than drinking water.”
The coaster brook trout is so named because, unlike regular brookies, it leaves streams to live along the coasts of Lake Superior before returning to spawn. The coasters are virtually indistinguishable from regular brook trout except for their larger size.
Researchers are divided about whether genetic differences exist between coasters and regular brook trout. Because the federal Endangered Species Act allows for listings of “distinct population segments,” the coasters would not have to be genetically different to qualify for listing.
The lengthy federal process of listing a species would take at least two years, say officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the act’s listings. Their first decision is expected by late May, when they are to determine whether the request merits a full review.
Coaster brook trout once spawned in dozens of streams on Lake Superior’s south shore and were abundant in all of the lake’s waters near the shore.
“Those populations are pretty much gone,” said Rich Bowman, director of the Michigan chapter of Trout Unlimited. “There are lots of folks who go to Canada to fish for them.”
Trout Unlimited has neither endorsed nor opposed the endangered status, noting that the federal protection would also mean a loss of flexibility and control for state regulators and nonprofit groups working on behalf of the fish.
“There are good things and bad things that come with endangered status,” Bowman said. “The good thing is the involvement of the federal government. And the bad thing is the involvement of the federal government.”
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