Not just for fishing: Why restocking MA rivers, lakes is good for the environment
HOPKINTON — As part of a plan to stock 500,000 trout in waterways throughout the state, children in Hopkinton were eager to lend a helping hand on Wednesday.
"I got to chuck the fish out of a bucket," said Rowan Crawford, 7, of Hopkinton.
Rowan was among about 100 children participating in the MassWildlife event at the Hopkinton Reservoir. The hands-on educational program was developed by the state to get children familiar with their environment.
One by one, kids lined up to receive a trout distributed by MassWildlife, take a few steps toward the shore and then dump the trout into the reservoir.
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"It was really cool to see the fish up close and then get to put it in the water," said Kaiden Boulet, of Bellingham. "I fish here sometimes, so it would be neat to see the fish again this year."
MassWildlife official says trout are 'good food for predators'
Every year, MassWildlife stocks bodies of freshwater throughout the state with about 500,000 trout that were grown in state-owned hatcheries. John Gutzeit, a hunting and fishing instructor at MassWildlife, said trout are a great fish to keep in supply.
"Trout serve a lot of purposes, they're great to catch, and you can eat them, so they're good for recreation," he said. "They're also good food for predators, including larger fish, eagles and hawks."
Gutzeit said trout typically like colder water, which might be hard to find in Massachusetts during the summer. That leads to a lot of trout either dying off or swimming their way north, making it necessary for the state to restock the trout population each year.
"Trout are easily the biggest species that we stock every year," Gutzeit said. "The ones we stock are typically about a year old and come from our hatcheries, the ones today are from our northeast hatchery and are brown trout."
About 400 trout were released into the Hopkinton Reservoir on Wednesday, with fishermen eagerly standing nearby to catch them. Willow Schare, 8, of Hopkinton, switched from being fearful of the trout flopping in her bucket to imploring her mother to take a video of her releasing the fish.
"It was fun, but a little scary because the fish was flipping and flopping still," Willow said.
Other trout stocking events were held in recent days in Framingham and Natick (Lake Cochituate), as well as in Franklin (Uncas Pond), Milford (Louisa Lake), Upton, (West River), Bellingham (Peters River, Still Brook), Medway and Holliston (Hopping Brook) and Hudson (Assabet River).
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Hopkinton Reservoir restocked with fish for environment, recreation
