ENNIS — Saving fish can be a dirty job, but for one Ennis resident, it’s worth it — if it means saving the future fish of the Madison River.
"We’re standing here on the banks of the beautiful Madison River and just released a few fish which were caught in an irrigation ditch very close by," says Ennis resident David McCrory.
Fish in irrigation ditches isn’t a new thing; in fact, it relates to the century-old debate about water rights in the West.
"My hat's off to the ranchers — these water rights have been here for about 115 years or so and it’s not their problem, but it is a community problem," says McCrory.
Morgan Jacobsen with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks tells MTN that local ranches depend on these ditches to irrigate fields and crops.
"This issue of fish being in these canals is something that we’re aware of and it’s something that there are efforts to mitigate, but I wouldn’t say it’s a significant impact to the population," says Jacobsen.
McCrory has been attempting to relocate these fish for the last 10 years and says he releases at least 1,000 fish every year.
Most of the fish that wind up in these ditches are juveniles. But that being said, there are multiple ditches, and it could be one of those situations where it kind of adds up to a slice of the pie, so to speak," Jacobsen says.
McCrory says these fish are worth saving because they are the future fish of the Madison River.
"When you look at fly fishing in this valley, it is the backbone of the economy, believe it or not," he says, "I just wish we could get more people involved and it’s a problem going on every year and that’s the future fish of the Madison River."
McCrory says the solution is preventing fish from entering the ditches at all.
"There are things being done to mitigate it. One thing is infrastructure at some of those gates and there’s also a salvage effort that’s permitted," Jacobsen tells me.
Jacobsen says local AG producers want to have healthy fisheries too, and local agencies like the Madison River Foundation work to address fish mortality in the ditches.
But McCrory hopes to see more funded efforts to save the fish left behind.
"It’s just a fraction, not even one percent of the fish that are perishing in these ditches and so it’s definitely an issue that needs to be addressed," he says.
