Cold, clean fishable water provides quality fishing but it goes well beyond recreation. It also provides for healthy communities and strong economies. Protecting, reconnecting, restoring and sustaining the coldwater fisheries that flow through our communities and lives leads to healthy communities and strong economies. Trout exist only in cold, clean fishable water. They are a proverbial “canary in the coal mine”, indicating how well our rivers and streams are being maintained.
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Trout exist only in cool, clear water. Sustained warm temperatures are lethal. Temperature spikes can stress and weaken, even kill fish. Factors that affect stream temperatures include:
Natural water quality can be impaired by chemicals from industrial and residential runoff and discharges, helped by stream buffer areas and needs to be actively protected.
Although the “fishable” sounds like it only describes waters clean enough to support fish to catch, it refers more broadly to water quality that is good enough for a healthy balanced population of aquatic life. Fishable water supports agriculture, industry, clean drinking water and recreation. It is an essential part of a strong economy’s foundation. Fishable water is dependent on habitat conservation, water quantity and fishery management. Factors that affect fishable water:
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