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Whitlock Vibert box

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Ronan's report


Saturday 9th December, 2010

The above likely will not mean anything to the majority of you guys, as you read on it will.

In the 50 a Frenchman by the name of Dr.Richard.C.E.Vibert developed a box that would contain Salmonid eggs which were then placed in a stream in gravel substrate for the purpose of introducing trout and salmon species into that river system. All be it the system worked to some extent the overall mortality of the eggs was high, primarily due to silt build up within the box.

Dave Whitlock in the 70s figured out a new way to design the box which separated the eggs in a small section uppers which would then allow for the sac fry to enter the larger section of the box before the stage when they would wiggle free of the box and enter their new watery world.


There are of course very good reasons why the WVB is overall more beneficial than the stocking of what has largely become swimming chickens, which amounts to intensively raised hatchery trout that after generations of genetic cross strains have largely lost the ability both to survive and spawn naturally.

Further it is a means to introduce into a stream species that are not there or have been lost.

Dave worked with FFF for this program and a publication was produced at this time related to the box and how to install it into a stream. FFF now supply those boxes. Granted in most cases you will have to provide satisfactory information from the powers that be that it is in order for a program to introduce species into your local streams and rivers, which makes sense as eggs need to be obtained from disease free environments and further that the introduced species is not considered to be invasive to those that already exist if that is the case.

The perfect scenario is that eggs are obtained from wild fish and not those cultured in brood stock hatcheries. It has been proved that over time eggs from this source will promote adult natural reproduction which as we know is now the case for many streams that now support wild fish and not those stocked from hatcheries. One must also remember that many years ago when fish were introduced into many western rivers and others around the world that trout in those days had not been subjected to the intensity of culture that the fish of today has, primarily rainbow trout, and in some cases strains of Brown, Brook and Cutthroat trout.


My local TU chapter is very supportive of issues related to our fisheries, and it was suggested that we promote a program to introduce some new wild species back into the rivers. Ironically it was historically how Brown and Cutthroat trout were first introduced into the Arkansas tailwaters, its not clear weather or not there are any surviving fish from that time. What has differed two fold is fishing pressure and the intensive stocking of hatchery raised fish. It has become apparent that in the majority of cases with the possible exception of Brown trout there is no natural reproduction, all be it we do see fish attempt to dig redds and spawn.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is also very supportive of the project as is the involvement of the FFF.


Great. First steps were to have Dave and Emily Whitlock to make the short journey from Oklahoma to Mountain Home, which was his home for many years to put on a program to show us how we should go about installing the vibert boxes. Pics show me with Dave, digging out first into the stream bed sufficient depth to set in the vibert box, after which clean washed gravel is placed to surround the box and over it.

By placing large rocks around the location and also a trailing line tag to a weight location of the box can be found when we return to check on the status of the eggs. It is very important that silt does not build up in these boxes.

Egg incubation is related to species, and primarily water temperature. Known as temperature units. By knowing the average water daily temperature teh incubation period can be calculated.


There are many other interesting factors related to this program one of which is those fry if they survive will almost certainly return to the same place as adults to spawn in future years, assuming that the river bed has remained the same and is not high and dry. This has been a proven fact, as we know it is for anadromous species.

Even so we also know that the percentage of survival to adult is very small, no matter what the species, regardless 1% is better than none.

As you can see from the further picture there was great interest from those who wish to take part in the program this coming New Year when we will receive eggs and plant out may more vibert boxes, hopefully in years to come to again establish a wild strain of trout in our rivers.


If any of you guys have a desire to follow up on this then Google Vibert boxes, there you will find a great deal more information.


Tight lines all.


Davy


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