Most of the state’s fish start their lives not in a mountain stream however in a small white field in New Hampton at one of many state’s six fish hatcheries, the place younger fish are bred and raised earlier than being launched within the wild. Brown trout, rainbow trout, and landlocked salmon are grown at these hatcheries after which delivered to the state’s waterways, some arriving by truck and others by helicopter so when folks come to fish, they’ve an opportunity at getting a superb catch.
Initially a response to overfishing, this century-old method has drawn criticism from some environmentalists and anglers, because the state prepares to spend money on the following era of hatcheries.
With $55 million in federal reduction funds, the state is making ready to replace its fish hatcheries and construct two new services with plans for a 3rd, after dealing with a lawsuit over water air pollution created by elevating fish on farms. However some environmental advocates say these updates come on the expense of the state’s wild native fish inhabitants, which is harmed by the stocking of farm-raised fish.
“New Hampshire is way too reliant on hatcheries, does an excessive amount of stocking of untamed fish, and does too little to guard wild native species,” stated Bob Mallard, govt director of Native Fish Coalition. “Growing hatchery capability is prone to solely make it worse.”
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One of many tanks on the New Hampton Fish Hatchery. (Amanda Gokee | New Hampshire Bulletin)
The $55 million would fund the development of two new hatcheries, which may produce an estimated 250,000 kilos of fish, based on the Fish and Sport Division. It might additionally pay for the design of a 3rd hatchery, able to producing a further 150,000 kilos of fish. The request for funding was permitted by the Government Council in late April, and the deadline for finishing the undertaking is 2026.
The demand for this fish comes from anglers, who’ve come to anticipate massive and plentiful fish, based on Dianne Timmins, division chief of inland fisheries on the Division of Fish and Sport. And the division relies on anglers to buy fishing licenses, that are the primary supply of funding. “If we don’t promote licenses, we don’t get cash, so it’s actually an financial factor,” Timmins stated.
Round 200,000 anglers buy licenses in New Hampshire in a typical 12 months, producing roughly $6 million, based on the division.
However wild fish are normally just a few inches lengthy and never of curiosity to anglers, Timmins stated. “If you’re speaking about satisfying an angler, they’re not going to wish to go catch 30 two-inch fish. They’re going to wish to go catch a pair massive fish,” she stated.
That’s what fish hatcheries can reliably ship – elevating the fish in captivity after which releasing them into the state’s waterways. The hatcheries additionally ship broader financial advantages, the division argues, attributing $100 million in annual spending to leisure fishing and one other $150 million in financial exercise.
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However stocking fish comes at a price. Mallard stated it has wreaked havoc on wild native fish, suppressing pure copy and probably introducing illness, viruses, and parasites. As a result of the fish raised in hatcheries are bigger than wild fish, they turn out to be an apex predator, outcompeting and consuming juvenile wild fish, Mallard stated.
Brook trout are one wild native species that has been on the decline, beneath the pressures of overfishing, local weather change, and stocking. As soon as native to many streams and lakes, wild brook trout are actually formally solely present in just a few of the state’s lakes and ponds.
Mallard, who has been fishing for 40 years, has seen the change firsthand. He grew up fishing wild native brook trout within the White Mountains once they had been extra plentiful; now their populations have noticeably diminished, Mallard stated.
However he believes the development is reversible – so long as the state reduces its reliance on hatcheries and imposes tighter laws on anglers, akin to stricter day by day bag limits and deal with restrictions. As a substitute of allocating assets to hatcheries, Mallard stated cash ought to go towards habitat restoration, reclamation, and land acquisition.
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Timmins stated the division is working in these areas whereas additionally constructing new hatcheries for the long run.
The Native Fish Coalition is a regional group that works in 12 states. Of these states, Mallard stated, New Hampshire has been among the many most reluctant to vary.
Water air pollution
Along with threatening native populations, fish hatcheries may also hurt the water high quality of close by rivers and streams.
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In 2018, the Conservation Regulation Basis sued the state over the Powder Mill Hatchery in New Durham, alleging that the ability was violating the Clear Water Act.
The ability permits water to cycle by way of fish hatcheries the place 1000’s of fish stay in shut quarters, inflicting excrement to depart the ability, and together with it vitamins like phosphorus that may enter the water downstream, the muse famous.
“That fish hatchery has been there for 75 years. We’ve grown loads of fish. That’s loads of stuff going downstream,” stated Ted Diers, assistant director of the water division for the Division of Environmental Companies.
“A number of the highest numbers (of phosphorus) we’ve ever measured had been downstream from (Powder Mill),” Diers stated. The hatchery in Berlin additionally has water high quality issues; Diers stated there are elevated ranges of chlorophyll.
Downstream from the Powder Mill Hatchery within the Merrymeeting River, elevated ranges of phosphorus have led to issues like chlorophyll, algal blooms, and cyanobacterial blooms, which might be dangerous to human well being and are worsening as waters heat as a result of local weather change.
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“It’s the final word irony to trash a river just like the Merrymeeting River to provide fish to place in different rivers so folks can go fishing for them,” stated Tom Irwin, the director of New Hampshire’s Conservation Regulation Basis.
“If we’re going to have these hatcheries, it’s a superb factor to make it possible for they don’t pollute and don’t degrade the water assets they discharge into,” he stated. The lawsuit filed by the Conservation Regulation Basis continues to be pending.
The brand new services could be designed to restrict vitamins coming into downstream waters through the use of a centrifuge design to take away the waste whereas it’s nonetheless strong, Diers stated. The services vary from 50 to 125 years outdated and are in want of an replace, he added.
The New Hampton Fish Hatchery is certainly one of them. Constructed within the Nineteen Twenties, the ability nonetheless makes use of a lot of its authentic tanks, based on hatchery foreman Zach Curran. However data has advanced over the previous 100 years, and Curran stated updating the ability would make it extra environment friendly and cut back labor concerned with duties like cleansing the tanks.
Sure environmental advocates disagree with that method and would reasonably see the services shut down.
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“The fisheries are antiquated. Perhaps the system of stocking can also be antiquated. Perhaps we shouldn’t be doing it anymore,” stated Joan O’Brien, who serves on the board of Voices of Wildlife, an advocacy group.
However based on Timmins, that final result is unrealistic. “Stocking won’t ever go away,” she stated. The division has made some adjustments to guard native fish, Timmins famous, like not stocking headwaters that are inclined to have already got a pure inhabitants of brook trout. In a few of these areas, she stated, they’ve additionally stopped stocking rainbow and brown trout, that are nonnative species.
Fish hatcheries had been initially constructed as a result of overfishing had decimated fish populations within the state as early because the late 1800s. Now, those that wish to get rid of them should make the case for extra restrictions on fishing.
“It’s socially, politically simpler to inventory fish than to guard what’s there as a result of defending what’s there requires concessions that anglers don’t like,” Mallard stated.
ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) — A strong second half powered the UAlbany women’s basketball team to their third conference victory in as many contests on Thursday night.
COACH COLLEEN MULLEN: “To start the game, New Hampshire had great defensive intensity and pace. Once we settled in and started moving the ball, we were able to capitalize with our inside-out game. In the second half, we had solid offensive execution and grinded out multiple defensive stops. This was a great team win on both ends.”
KEY STATS
Graduate student Kayla Cooper led the team with 20 points, six rebounds, three steals, and three assists while shooting over 50% from the field.
Fellow graduate student Jessica Tomasetti followed with nine points and five rebounds. The point guard also shot 50% from the field.
Junior Gabriela Falcao tallied a team-high two blocks.
As a team, the Great Danes totaled nine steals with 19 points off turnovers.
The UAlbany defense did not allow any singular Wildcat to surpass seven points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Graduate student Lilly Phillips scored the first basket of the game after a combined four scoreless possessions.
That defensive nature continued throughout the rest of the half.
New Hampshire gained a 9-5 lead within four minutes of action but the Great Danes quickly answered to tie the score in the next two minutes.
UAlbany ended the quarter with a one-possession advantage, 14-11.
Throughout the second quarter, the Great Danes allowed just two field goals for five Wildcat points.
Four different Great Danes scored in a defensive quarter to make it a 24-16 game at halftime.
The second half was a different game – UAlbany nearly doubled its score from the first half in the third quarter alone.
The Great Danes began the third with a 12-2 scoring run. Ten of those points were scored in just two minutes and 23 seconds.
Kayla Cooper and Jessica Tomasetti combined to score 10 additional points and close the third quarter with a 22-point advantage, 46-24.
Cooper and Tomasetti scored all but three of the 22 points in the third quarter. Cooper tallied 12 alone.
Following two fourth-quarter layups from senior Laycee Drake and Phillips, the Great Danes held a 26-point lead.
UAlbany continued to extend their lead throughout the next seven minutes of action. The largest lead of the contest came with 1:24 left – 29 points (59-30).
The Wildcats got the final say to make it a 27-point decision, 59-32.
NEXT: The Great Danes will close out the week at home against Maine on Saturday (Jan. 11).
Gov. Kelly Ayotte used her first speech as New Hampshire’s 83rd chief executive Thursday to call for “common-sense cooperation” as the state tackles issues ranging from housing, to education, to the state budget.
In her roughly 45-minute long inaugural address, Ayotte simultaneously lauded New Hampshire as a model for the rest of the nation, but warned that pressing concerns — financial and otherwise — would require policymakers to make difficult decisions in the coming months.
You can watch Ayotte’s full inauguration speech here.
“I could not be more optimistic about our future, but at the same time we have real challenges that we have to take head on, if we want to keep our state moving in the right direction,” Ayotte told a crowd in the State House’s Representatives Hall that included current lawmakers and state officials, as well as several former governors, congressmen, and other political veterans.
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“Whenever we talk about cuts, just like a family making hard decisions, there are things we can’t skimp on: protecting our most vulnerable and serving those most in need.”
Gov. Kelly Ayotte, forecasting upcoming state budget negotiations
Ayotte said she’s proud the state ranks high in categories including freedom, public safety, and taxpayer return on investment, but said slowing tax collections and the end of billions of dollars of federal aid dictates that the state “recalibrate” its spending.
“Whenever we talk about cuts, just like a family making hard decisions, there are things we can’t skimp on: protecting our most vulnerable and serving those most in need,” Ayotte said.
Ayotte’s speech was light on specifics — she called for few clear policy initiatives or spending cuts — but she did announce one new state initiative: a Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE, to help identify ways to spend less state money. The committee will be led by former Gov. Craig Benson, who nominated Ayotte to be New Hampshire attorney general in 2004, and businessman Andrew Crews, a longtime political donor to Ayotte.
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Ayotte told the Democratic leaders of the New Hampshire House and Senate that her door would always be open to them. She meanwhile asked GOP legislative leaders to “marshal our Republican majorities over the next two years to deliver on the promises we made to keep our state moving in the right direction.”
Ayotte called public safety her “absolute top priority” and said she expected Republicans to pass a ban this year on so-called sanctuary policies, which aim to protect undocumented immigrants from criminal penalties. She also said the state needs to further tighten its bail policies, and boost police retirement benefits to make it easier to recruit officers and keep them on the job.
She identified housing as another top issue and said the state needs to “get serious” by modeling good behavior to cities and towns, by enforcing a 60-day turnaround on state permits for new housing projects. She also promised to “strengthen new and existing partnerships” between the state, cities and towns and the private sector to get new housing units built.
Ayotte also highlighted education, and said while New Hampshire’s current rate of pupil spending was “wonderful,” lawmakers need to “keep it up” while simultaneously expanding the state’s voucher-like school choice program. Ayotte also promised to ensure students can learn and teachers can teach without distraction by banning cell phones in the classroom.
On other issues, Ayotte promised to expand the state’s ranks of mental health providers, strengthen anti-suicide efforts, oppose a controversial landfill proposal in the town of Dalton, and veto any new abortion restrictions.
More digs at Massachusetts — but also a welcome
After framing her gubernatorial campaign last year as a rebuke of Massachusetts, Ayotte also used her inaugural address as another chance to take digs at the Granite State’s southern neighbor.
Ayotte criticized policymakers there for what she described as out-of-control spending, tax hikes, and lax immigration policies. But she did say New Hampshire welcomes Massachusetts residents as shoppers and visitors.
One of Ayotte’s biggest applause lines was addressed to Bay State business leaders.
“To the businesses of Massachusetts: We’d love to have you bring your talents to the Granite State,” she said. “We’re happy to show you why it’s better here.”
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Ayotte extended a similar invitation to Canadian businesses, saying they would be especially welcome in New Hampshire’s North Country.
Lawmakers say they’re ready to get to work
Lawmakers past and present attended Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s inauguration.
Republicans in both legislative chambers will enjoy sizable majorities this session, and the party’s leaders say they’re ready to use those numbers to advance the policy goals Ayotte laid out Thursday.
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne praised the governor’s speech and said that along with the expansion of Education Freedom Accounts, his caucus will focus on “addressing issues of affordability across all sectors: housing, healthcare, electricity, you name it.”
He expressed optimism about Ayotte’s proposed COGE initiative to make government more efficient, but acknowledged that trimming the state budget could cause tension as lawmakers seek to protect their favorite programs.
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“Everything we do is someone’s favorite pet project, so we’ve got to figure out who is going to get sent to the chopping block,” he said.
Osborne added that while his majorities are larger this session than last term’s near evenly split House makeup, he knows there will be disagreement within his own caucus.
“The more willing that we are to let people do their own thing, for things that are important to them, the more we’re going to be able to band together and get things done together, as well,” he said.
Sen. James Gray, a Republican from Rochester who leads the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters it was too early in the budgeting process to forecast where the state may trim to balance its books. He said he plans to work with Ayotte to advance her campaign promises.
With a 40-seat disadvantage, House Democrats will have little ability to set the legislative agenda this session, but Minority Leader Alexis Simpson of Exeter said she was grateful that Ayotte expressed a willingness to work across the aisle. She said Democrats would focus on ensuring any budget reductions don’t end up harming the state’s neediest residents.
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“We feel these budget cuts at the state level will lead to higher costs at the local level, so we’re really working on making sure the vulnerable populations that Gov. Ayotte spoke about really are protected in this budget,” Simpson said.
Simpson also said she hoped for bipartisan collaboration on housing, mental health services and other issues.
Notable political faces fill the room
Gov. Chris Sununu attends the inauguration of his successor, Gov. Kelly Ayotte.
Thursday’s inauguration ceremony brought out a crowd of high profile political figures in the state, past and present.
Outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu received a sustained round of applause when he entered Representatives Hall, and was again thanked by Ayotte during her speech for his eight years of service to the state.
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Others present included former Congressman Charlie Bass and Scott Brown, a former U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts and ambassador to New Zealand, who was also New Hampshire’s 2014 Republican U.S. Senate nominee. Also in attendance was former Gov. Maggie Hassan, who now serves in the U.S. Senate after unseating Ayotte in 2016.
Former Gov. Craig Benson was seated in the chamber, as was Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais, who entered the room to cheers.
Four of the five justices on the New Hampshire Supreme Court were in attendance, as were federal judges for the District of New Hampshire. New Hampshire Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald swore in Ayotte, while she was flanked by her husband and two children.
Members of the Executive Council were also sworn in during Thursday’s proceedings.
New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte will deliver an inaugural speech Thursday in which she is expected to project a message of post-election unity.
Ayotte, a Republican, is expected to emphasize her desire to get to work for all Granite Staters regardless of party affiliation.
“You have my word that each and every day I will work on your behalf to do what’s best for all of us. For all of New Hampshire,” she’ll say, according to excerpts of her prepared remarks that her team shared with The Boston Globe.
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Ayotte is expected to say New Hampshire needs to “get serious about housing production” in light of the current “crisis” around the constrained supply of homes. She’s expected to voice support for expanding the state’s Education Freedom Account program. And she’s planning to laud the budgetary approach state leaders have taken in recent years, including the elimination of the interest and dividends tax.
“New Hampshire is a wonderful, beautiful state,” she’ll say. “And protecting what makes us unique is so much more important than one person or one party. … I could not be more optimistic about our shared future.”
Inauguration Day ceremonies are slated to begin at 11:30 a.m., with a livestream available.
Do you know Kelly Ayotte’s background? Here are 10 facts, including a few you may have missed.
As she takes office, Ayotte’s allies and foes will be watching closely, including to see how her policy positions play out in these six areas.
The festivities around Ayotte taking office include a first inaugural ball on Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Omni Mt. Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, and a second inaugural ball on Saturday, Jan. 18, at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Manchester. Tickets to both events are sold out, though a waitlist is available.
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Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
