Brown trout have been widely introduced into suitable environments around the world, including North and South America, Australasia, Asia, and South and East Africa.
The first introductions into the U.S. started in 1883 when Fred Mather, a New York pisciculturist and angler, under the authority of the U.S. Fish Commissioner, Spencer Baird, obtained brown trout eggs from a Baron Lucius von Behr, president of the German Fishing Society.