Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: New York
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Each year hundreds of thousands of hatchery reared trout are stocked into the state's streams and rivers according to statewide policies (Catch Rate Oriented Trout Stocking, or “CROTS”). Most stockings are designed to provide average angler catch rates of 0.5 fish per hour (or greater) for part of or all of a fishing season. Recent creel surveys indicate that in some circumstances the stocked trout are only briefly providing target catch rates, and survival within stocked reaches is lower than expected. Applied research to better document the fate of stocked trout, with an eventual goal of identifying important factors bearing on the fate of trout that are not caught and harvested by anglers, is needed to improve the effectiveness of this important and costly fishery management program.