A lawsuit could end trout stockings in central Arizona

Fishing in Central Arizona could be in big trouble if a lawsuit to list the Verde trout is successful. If that happens, all stockings of non-native fish—trout, bass, catfish and panfish—will likely stop for at least a year while biologists conduct a study to determine how such stockings impact the Verde trout. They could find that stockings of non-native fish must stop permanently.

And, ironically, the lawsuit to protect the Verde trout could kill it.

Oddly enough, the Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit the very same week I approached Arizona Game & Fish Department with my own Verde Trout Recovery Project. The CBD is as concerned about the fish as I am, but we're approaching the problem from two different directions; unfortunately, they're mutually exclusive. Consider tossing in your own two cents' worth after I give you some background.

The native Verde trout (Gila robusta), aka the roundtail chub, isn't a true salmonidae trout at all; taxonomically it's really a minnow. But the Verde trout grows to a length of 24 inches, so it's related to a minnow like a wolf is related to a chihuahua. Early settlers here named it the Verde trout because: 1. they found it in the Verde river, and 2. it acts like a trout as far as angling is concerned. As a fly fisherman, I've discovered they'll take dry flies, and they're particularly fond of a green stonefly pattern I tie up on #16 barbless hook specifically for them. They also hit baits and small spinning lures. If you go fish the Verde or Salt rivers or their tributaries using methods for trout or bass, it's just as likely you'll catch a Verde trout.

Verde trout on the upper Verde River near Paulden run 6-10 inches. RIH photo/Art Merrill

At least, it used to be just as likely. Our forebears stocked non-native warm water bass, catfish and panfish species in Arizona waters before we understood (or cared about) ecological balances; these non-natives are successfully out-competing natives like the Verde trout. Add to that the negative impacts that continued urbanization has on streams, and the result is that some natives are now endangered and others are getting there. There is no doubt that Verde trout numbers here, especially in the Central Highlands, are a bare fraction of what they were historically, and that the fish is completely gone from some Verde and Salt River tributaries. (For the record, Verde trout/roundtail chub/Gila robusta makes its home in waters stretching from Wyoming to Mexico.)

Enter the Verde Trout Recovery Project. When I learned that this native sportfish was edging into serious trouble, I wanted to do something about it before it was too late, and I spent the first half of 2006 designing a program to encourage anglers to help. “Who better?” I thought. “Hunters and anglers have always been the biggest spenders for conservation.” Basically, the project consists of enticing caring anglers to contribute to a hatchery program to raise Verde trout and release them into the wild, thereby increasing their numbers.

In early September I presented this project idea to Arizona Game & Fish Department Fisheries Project Manager Andy Clark; he was enthusiastic and agreed to send it up the AZG&F food chain to the decision makers. He also sent me copies of biological studies of the Verde trout; from those I learned that the fish is literally one dry winter away from the endangered species list.

Now enters the Center for Biological Diversity. Within a day or two of my speaking with Clark, I received a CBD press release announcing their lawsuit to force US Fish & Wildlife to list the Verde trout (roundtail chub) as endangered. I called Clark, who told me that, if the suit goes through, AZG&F will have to stop stocking non-native fish in all waters connected by drainage to waters where the Verde trout lives until biologists determine what impact the non-native stockings have on the native fish. That could take a year or more, he said. Those waters are the Verde and Salt rivers and their tributaries, like Oak Creek, Beaver Creek and many other popular fishing spots that AZG&F routinely stocks with trout, bass and other non-natives. It's a big chunk of Arizona fishing. Besides the loss of angling opportunities, the economic impact could be significant, especially to smaller retailers who serve the sport. And biologists could decide that, to protect the Verde trout, all stockings of non-natives in their waters must cease permanently.

The positive aspect of the CBD approach is that it tackles a major impact to the Verde trout, the loss of its habitat. Listing the fish could put at least a temporary halt to any development impacting its habitat; long term habitat protection is another matter, likely to draw plenty of opposition from deep-pocketed interests and their politicians.

If successful, the CBD suit will kill the Verde Trout Recovery Project because, well, can you imagine encouraging people to fish for an endangered species? If successful, the suit will kill the prospect of an angler-funded native fish hatchery project to recover the Verde trout, which Clark said is a far better idea than listing the fish as endangered.

“When a species gets listed, it’s just shuffled off into a corner,” he told me. “Then, to protect it, you shut down mining, you shut down logging, you shut down grazing, you shut down recreation, and nobody’s happy.”

CBD wants to help the fish, but —more irony—rather than saving the Verde trout, listing it as an endangered species could finish killing it off. To wit: how many fish on the endangered species list have ever recovered enough to warrant de-listing? Answer: zero.

To recover the Verde trout we must start with a hatchery program to introduce more of the fish into the wild. We could try to save it bureaucratically by listing the fish, then watch the Verde trout join the passenger pigeon while officials spend a couple of decades shuffling paperwork back and forth between agencies. Or we could shoot for success right now, on our own at the grassroots level.

The Prescott Flycasters fly fishing club has agreed to take on the Verde Trout Recovery Project (VTRP) as its own conservation project, and we'll soon be taking it on the road to other Arizona fly fishing clubs. Prescott Flycasters has already sent letters to AZG&F commissioners and staffers offering the project in support of broader, cooperative interstate conservation efforts for several imperiled native species.

As far as I know, no one has ever tried this method of saving a species before it becomes endangered. If it works, it could serve as a new conservation model with other species. We'll also be saving our non-native trout fishing, as well. If that isn't worth the effort and a few dollars, then what is?

Here's how you can get involved in saving this native sportfish:

-Go fishing. Pursue Verde trout with barbless hooks so that you can release them unharmed. Get a photo and send it to Read It Here. Tell us where you caught it.

-Join Prescott Flycasters or encourage your own fishing club to support the VTRP.

-The project is still in its earliest stages and it needs a compelling and easily reproducible logo; you can send your ideas to me (as a jpeg or pdf) at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

-When VTRP begins offering special Verde trout fishing equipment, outings and contests, dig into your wallet because this is the project core: raising funds to benefit a Verde trout hatchery to restore this native fish in Arizona.

-Send us your opinion, via mail (POB 2943 Prescott, AZ 86302) or email ( This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ).