New Hampshire

State’s fish hatcheries are about to get a boost; some environmentalists say that’s a problem – New Hampshire Bulletin

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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.

Timmins stated the division is working in these areas whereas additionally constructing new hatcheries for the long run. 

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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. 

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. 

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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.

“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.

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“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.

“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.  

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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. 



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