Trout Hatcheries Receive Temporary Funding

— That black cloud hanging over the federal trout hatcheries in Arkansas dissipated, but only briefly. It is still on the horizon.

Word came out of Washington a few months back the hatcheries at Norfork and Greers Ferry lakes would close because of funding cutbacks.

Later, Loren Hitchcock, director of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, reported at the April commission meeting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said money had been found to keep the hatcheries open.

Yes, but that money was for the 2012 federal fiscal year, which ends in October. Money for the hatcheries for the 2013 fiscal year remains uncertain.

The issue is a governmental entanglement.

The U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers built the dams that wiped out native fish populations because of cold water released downstream. Trout were brought in as a replacement game fi sh. They have done so well a multimillion dollar industry has thrived on the White, North Fork and Little Red rivers.

But the corps does not raise trout. The Fish and Wildlife Service does. Annually, the corps looks at cutting costs by discontinuing money provided for the trout production. This is the case in some other states as well as Arkansas.

Meetings are held, memos are exchanged, congressmen get involved, phone calls are made and the trout hatcheries remain open for another year.

Cindy Dohner is the Fish and Wildlife Service’s southeast region director. She recently gave Hitchcock an email update on what is going on.

Dohner said, “The (Fishand Wildlife) Service believes we should move fully to a user-pay approach to fund mitigation fi sh hatcheries. We understand that the fish supplied by these hatcheries provide important economic opportunities to the states and recreational community, and we support the continuation of mitigation work.

“We are doing all we can to keep our mitigation fish hatcheries open and to continue to provide fi sh as we have in the past in the most eft cient and eff ective way possible but there are uncertainties and we still have challenges to tackle in 2013, including the funding.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also operates awarmwater fi sh hatchery at Mammoth Spring, a separate facility from the Game & Fish Commission’s coldwater hatchery on the Spring River just outside Mammoth Spring.

Outdoor, Pages 7 on 06/21/2012

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