Research and Conservation of Native Trout
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Mexico is home to many native trout, from the San Pedro Martir in the northern baja peninsula, to the great diversities of trout in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the Pacific slope of the Mexico mainland. Since l997, Truchas Mexicanas, a binational group of Mexican and American scientists have cooperated in field studies and laboratory work to help delineate and describe the diverse populations of Mexican trout, before they are lost to habitat degradation or hybridization with hatchery rainbow trout.
Most of Mexico's Sierra remains unsampled for trout because of the logistical problems and expense of working in the rugged Pacific slopes. Trout have recently been collected in three watersheds in southern Durango: the rios Piaxtla, Baluarte, and Acaponeta -- the first collections from these drainages to be deposited in scientific museums. More populations of trout (and perhaps new species!) may await discovery in some remote arroyo or barranca; possibly further south in the Rio Mezquital, or perhaps in another unexplored tributary of the Sierra Madre Occidental.
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