Georgia Fly Fishing Guide Warns of the Didymo Dangers; Rock Snot Killing Trout

Didymosphenia geminata (sometimes referred to as “didymo”) is a single-cell algae that has been turning some of New Zealand’s unspoiled trout waters into mat-clogged swamps.  A Georgia fly fishing guide explains that traveling fly fishermen may be to blame for bringing “didymo” to the best fly fishing trout rivers in the world by carrying it on their boots and waders.  In 2008, New Zealand banned the use of felt-soled wading boots in a broad and urgent environmental effort to prevent the spread of the invasive didymo.

Today, the United States Environmental Protection Agency – EPA has documented proof of the existence of didymo in several of North America’s finest trout streams. They say there is very strong circumstantial evidence that traveling fly fishermen are responsible.

A May 2006 meeting between the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society, sponsored by the Federation of Fly Fishers – FFF took place in Bozeman, Montana and brought together 35 professionals including fisheries managers and biologists from New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., Iceland, the United Kingdom, the EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey Commission in order to share information on the organism Didymosphenia geminata and find answers on how to prevent or slow its spread.

George of fly fishing guides report that the meeting resulted in a statement of information which was endorsed by 21 scientists from across the U.S. and Canada.

Didymo was first recorded as being found on Vancouver Island in 1894-96 with nuisance blooms in the Heber River 100 years later, however the origin in North America is basically unknown.

From its first reappearance on the Heber River, didymo spread to 12 watersheds on the island over a period of five years and then in 1975 Virginia was the only state to detect it in its waters.  By 2006 didymo was found in the Smith, Jackson and Pound rivers, then reports from Rapid Creek, South Dakota placed the algae there in 2005 and parallel to that time brown trout populations dropped 95 percent.

Georgia fly fishing guides say that didymo is sometimes referred to as rock snot because it is slimy and yellow in appearance and consistency.  It has a “significant biological impact to a stream’s ecosystem and is an organism that has expanded its ecological range and tolerance, exhibiting a pattern of growth with potential impact to fisheries.”

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