09-19-2011, 04:05 AM
MMDon,
I appreciated Doctor Webber's reply to you. What he stated is exactly what I understand. I think this "all female" thing is just a rumor. Sterilized fish are planted for a couple of reasons (1) To prevent reproduction so that one species doesn't cross with another species as in the case of rainbows with cutthroat. This helps to protect the rainbow from breeding the cutthroat out of existence to preserve the species.
(2) To prevent a species such as the brook trout from over populating and stunting themselves so they grow to a small size and become undesirable to fisherman to catch or keep.
(3) To introduce a species to a new habitat to provide sport fishing for the sportsman without the chance of it reproducing and getting "loose" elsewhere in the environment resulting in negative consequences. Wipers (a striped bass X white bass, hybrid) and tiger muskies (a northern pike X musky, hybrid) and tiger trout (brown trout X brook trout, hybrid) and splake (lake trout X brook trout, hybrid) are all examples of this purpose.
(4) Sterilized fish also can grow bigger because they use energy to grow bigger instead of produce milt or eggs to reproduce.
I suspect Idaho's last three new state rainbow trout records in the last few years were sterilized females (sterilized at egg stage). This may be where the misunderstanding is coming from that fisheries departments are only planting sterilized females.
DeeCee
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I appreciated Doctor Webber's reply to you. What he stated is exactly what I understand. I think this "all female" thing is just a rumor. Sterilized fish are planted for a couple of reasons (1) To prevent reproduction so that one species doesn't cross with another species as in the case of rainbows with cutthroat. This helps to protect the rainbow from breeding the cutthroat out of existence to preserve the species.
(2) To prevent a species such as the brook trout from over populating and stunting themselves so they grow to a small size and become undesirable to fisherman to catch or keep.
(3) To introduce a species to a new habitat to provide sport fishing for the sportsman without the chance of it reproducing and getting "loose" elsewhere in the environment resulting in negative consequences. Wipers (a striped bass X white bass, hybrid) and tiger muskies (a northern pike X musky, hybrid) and tiger trout (brown trout X brook trout, hybrid) and splake (lake trout X brook trout, hybrid) are all examples of this purpose.
(4) Sterilized fish also can grow bigger because they use energy to grow bigger instead of produce milt or eggs to reproduce.
I suspect Idaho's last three new state rainbow trout records in the last few years were sterilized females (sterilized at egg stage). This may be where the misunderstanding is coming from that fisheries departments are only planting sterilized females.
DeeCee
[signature]