The commonwealth’s efforts raising and then releasing non-native fish into the state’s waters runs contrary to the biodiversity mandate announced last year by the Healey administration, according to a Western Massachusetts environmental group.
Every year, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife raises five kinds of trout at its hatcheries. The fish are released into some 450 lakes, rivers, ponds and streams, so they can be caught by local and visiting anglers.
It’s a practice MassWildlife says helps increase fishing opportunities across the state, which generates more than a billion dollars in sales, jobs and related industry earnings every year…