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Children and families help with the stocking of trout in Onota Lake on Wednesday.
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MassWildlife will release nearly a half-million trout this year.

Pittsfield Children Assist in Trout Stocking Onota Lake

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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MassWildlife offers opportunities for children to help with the stocking during school vacation week. 
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The wind blew a sharp chill through the air Wednesday afternoon but that did not stop the annual spring trout stocking at Onota Lake.
 
More than 75 community members enthusiastically released 600 rainbow trout, hailing from the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's McLaughlin Hatchery in Belchertown.
 
Children leaped in the air as they waited in line for their white buckets to be filled with trout ranging in size from about a foot to up to 18 inches. 
 
"Fishies" some kids yelled and danced as they watched the fish swim into the lake energized by the sudden shock of being tossed into the cold water. 
 
"[The fish] like going in the water a touch harder than just being slowly slid in, just because it wakes them up. It's a physiological response," Leanna Fontaine, an aquatic biologist for Masswildlife's Western District, said. 
 
"So they like just kind of hitting that water and going so they actually handle it really well." 
 
Some of the older kids filmed themselves as they propelled the trout, giggling as the fish flew into the water. 
 
Parents, grandparents, and guardians helped and recorded as the youngsters walked down the sandy beach, buckets in hand, sometimes the same size as them, and gently dumped the trout into the water, sometimes narrowly missing. 
 
Although they were not yet strong enough to lift the bucket on their own to heave the fish, all trout safely made it to their new home.  
 
One grandparent thanked the organization members at the conclusion of the event expressing that the opportunity was the highlight of school vacation. 
 
Fontaine's daughter Isla Gagnon said she looks forward to accompanying her mom to work, enjoying how it is interactive and has given her a lot of happy memories.  
 
MassWildlife stocks trout two times a year, in the spring from mid- to late March through Memorial Day and two weeks in the fall at the end of September and early October. It will be releasing close to 470,000 rainbow, brown and tiger trout in lakes and rivers across the state this spring. 
 
Children and families are invited to help with the stock trout during school vacation week, which was the situation on Wednesday at Onota. Events were also held this week in Palmer, Plymouth, Westfield, Worcester and Woburn.
 
Trout stocking provides the opportunity to get people engaged with the outdoors, explore the area's waterways all across the state, and give them something to fish.
 
It can also "help take pressure off of other certain species, especially when they're getting ready to spawn because trout sometimes go into different waters," Fontaine said. 
 
"The species that are available early in the spring for people to be able to go after and the same thing in the fall."

Tags: department of fish and game,   fishing,   MassWildlife,   

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Berkshire DA, Kids' Place Launch Internet Safety Programming

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire District Attorney's Office wants to break the silence about virtual child abuse that predators thrive on.

"Silence is the ally of an abuser," District Attorney Timothy Shugrue said.

On Tuesday, Shugrue and the Berkshire County Kids' Place & Violence Prevention Center detailed their newly created internet safety program that was softly rolled out in December.

"When I first took the office, I made a pledge that I wanted to reinstate youth programming, particularly school-based programs offered by the district attorney's office. Today, I'm proud to announce that I fulfilled that pledge," the DA said.

"The District Attorney's Office, in partnership with the Kids' Place, now offers internet safety education not just for children, but also for caregivers as well."

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Shugrue said his office sees an "astronomical" amount of child sex abuse cases that originate on or happen online. He put that down to the Berkshires not being silent when it comes to reporting abuse. 

"We have a lot of reporting of child abuse cases and we have a lot of follow-up with that," he said.

Heather Williamson, program director at Kids' Place, is often asked how to know which children are in danger. Her answer: "All of our kids are on the internet right now. They're all in danger of accessing people that have a harmful nature towards them."  

The educational program was developed by both agencies using the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's NetSmartz curriculum model. Two facilitators, one from the DA's Office and one from the Kids' Place, travel to schools to meet with students and caregivers across the county.

There will soon be billboards for public awareness.

"As technology rapidly evolves and internet access reaches new highs, our children face greater risks than ever before," Williamson said.

"As professionals, community members, and parents, it is our responsibility to educate, protect, and provide resources to keep children safe. While this topic isn't new, the threats facing children online are more serious than ever."

Other resources, such as Take It Down, a service that allows minors to get sexually explicit material taken off the internet, were highlighted. Shugrue emphasized that the program will hold presentations anywhere it is welcome.

"We would not let our children play outside without first teaching them how to stay safe and ensure that they are supervised. Therefore, we should not allow children to wander the digital world without first providing them with the education they need to stay safe and the supervision they deserve," he said.

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