The US Fish and Wildlife Service has approved plans to destroy 434,000 lake trout that were slated for stocking in the Great Lakes Erie and Ontario amidst concerns that stocking the fish would introduce didymo, more commonly known as "rock snot", into lake waters. Didymo, an invasive algae that can spread rapidly and destroy entire freshwater ecosystems, has not been found to date in either Lake Erie or Lake Ontario. After the failure of efforts to find alternative water bodies in which to stock the hundreds of thousands of trout in question, Fish and Wildlife's Northeast regional director Wendi Weber made the decision to destroy the fish.

The population slated for destruction is comprised almost entirely of 4-inch fingerling trout. The fingerlings were raised at the Bethel, VT hatchery on the banks of the White River, a river body known to be infected with didymo. Although the tanks are filled with well water and are not typically at risk of infection by the introduction of river water, floods during this year's Hurricane Irene brought river water into the tanks and infected tank water with didymo.

The Trinity River, which begins in the Trinity Alps and eventually joins the Lower Klamath River on its way to the Pacific Ocean, is renowned for its strong returns of both steelhead and salmon. The river serves as both a recreational haven for fisherman and other outdoor enthusiasts as well as a subsistence fishery for the Hoopa Indian Tribe. Over a decade ago, habitat studies were initiated whose results led to the establishment of the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP), which began efforts to reverse damage caused by dam and water diversion projects established during the 1950s and 1960s and to restore naturally-spawning populations of salmon and steelhead to near pre-dam levels. Today, fishing guides and the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) are calling for a halt to these restoration efforts.

In a letter to the TRRP, co-authored by the Trinity River Guide Association and C-WIN, these organizations are requesting that a moratorium be placed on further restoration efforts -- halting Phase 2 of the TRRP slated to begin in 2012 -- until a proper assessment of Phase 1 efforts can be completed. Specifically, Phase 1 efforts have raised concerns regarding the fill-in of holding pools due to the introduction of excess gravel introduction into the river as well as the failure of side channels constructed as part of restoration efforts. The letter calls the TRRP's restoration efforts "ill-designed", stating that there has been "significant negative environmental consequences of the TRRP’s actions that have not been adequately analyzed ... and we can no longer idly stand by."