Sackville River welcomes new trout

By Yvette d'Entremont
The Weekly News
SACKVILLE - The Sackville River received an early Christmas present last week.
About 2,000 speckled trout were released into the river system to compensate for some of the damage caused by last month's oil spill. Hundreds of litres of furnace oil were released into the river when an oil tank line at a local business was severed.
"As far as we know, there was no fish kill associated with the oil spill, but we're taking a precautionary approach by restocking the river," said Sackville Rivers Association president Walter Regan. "We'll never know if there were fish eggs contaminated or killed, but if so, this will help make up for some of that."
The Dec. 10 fish stocking was an initiative of the provincial government's inland fisheries division. Local MLAs Dave Wilson and Mat Whynott were on hand to help stock the river at four separate locations.
An additional 200 sea run speckled trout were also released at a secret location.
"As soon as the minister of fisheries and aquaculture (Sterling Belliveau) heard about the oil spill, he was very sympathetic and a big part of getting these fish for the river," said Whynott. "It's a good day for the Little Sackville River today."
Regan said the association's next goal is convincing the federal department of fisheries to help stock the river with Atlantic salmon.
Last week's event also helped highlight a project at the Sackville Heights Community Centre. Before heading out to stock the river, volunteers placed several trout in a 100 gallon aquarium donated by the province earlier this year.
"This is a community outreach project to help people learn about the fish in the little Sackville River," said Regan. "We've had 10 of the 14 species found in the river in that tank over the last month."
Jackie Cajolais, executive director of the Sackville Seniors Advisory Council, was delighted by the addition of the trout.
She said seniors and all passersby always enjoy watching the fish in the tank.
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca