Rotenone in Fisheries: Are the Rewards Worth the Risks?

4. The Use of Rotenone to Restore Brook Trout in the Adirondack Moutains of New York-An Overview

Leo Demong

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781888569339.ch4

Abstract.—The brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis is endemic to the eastern United States, and historically was abundant in the lakes and ponds of the Adirondack Mountain region of New York State. Anthropogenic impacts have caused drastic declines in brook trout populations. A major cause of the decline has been introduction of competing fishes such as nonnative yellow perch Perca flavescens, bass Micropterus spp. and golden shiners Notemigonus crysoleucas. Range expansion of native fish species such as white suckers Catostomus commersoni and brown bullheads Ameiurus nebulosus has also been detrimental. Brook trout, a species that was commonly found alone or in simple communities with only one or two other fish species, is unable to compete successfully in these situations. Chemical reclamation using rotenone is the only viable tool that can restore these degraded systems. Follow-up studies by New York State biologists and Cornell University researchers have supported the findings of others; that the negative impacts of pond reclamation with rotenone are minor and short-term.