Yet another 90,000 trout to be euthanized....

[Polelock]

“In the end of March raceway C (brook trout) tested positive for furunculosis. C was one of only two raceways that had never tested positive and the trout were slated for waters with, or connected to resident trout populations. The outbreak resulted in several lakes being stocked pre-season only, and further reductions in stocking on 11 of the 16 waters with in-season closures as the number of negative trout were reduced by half. The raceway was treated and recently retested. Unfortunately, the raceway despite treatment tested positive once again yesterday. After discussion with Jan, who feels further treatment would yield similar results, the Division is opting to destroy the 90,000 brook trout in the raceway.

Say goodbye to trout stocking for a few years.. The division has a huge problem on their hands...I heard that once a hatchery has this disease, they cannot get rid of it....

[Jigman13]

Wasn't this info already provided before opening day leading to changes in numbers stocked for the Passaic river, Rahway river, farrington lake and a number of other locations?

[AndyS]

Start stocking more smallmouth, walleye and pike.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Wow!!! More problems, really? Is this all new updated bad news? Can one of our F&G chime in with the details?

[Mike M]

Wow!!! More problems, really? Is this all new updated bad news? Can one of our F&G chime in with the details?

More diseased fish were found on Monday.

[NJ Dave]

I understand the states doing by not wanting to further spread the disease but i don't understand why they just don't dump the sick fish in an already polluted river.
114 + 90 thousand is a lot of fish.
Could have put em in the passaic, not told anyone and in a few years had a trophy trout river I'd the pike dont eat em.

[ChaosStarter]

start stocking more smallmouth, walleye and pike.


this.

[bigfishy]

Start stocking more smallmouth, walleye and pike.

100% Agree wit dat... Unfortunately i don't think that would help lisence sales:mad:

[Polelock]

Wasn't this info already provided before opening day leading to changes in numbers stocked for the Passaic river, Rahway river, farrington lake and a number of other locations?

Yes it was but fingers were crossed that no more trout tested positive.. It just goes to show how aggressive this disease is...


Unfortunately i don't think that would help lisence sales

Sure it will... Pike Stamp, Walleye Stamp, Smallmouth Stamp and so on..:eek:

[15FOOTER]

SMALLIES, SMALLIES and maybe some more SMALLIES, then walleye and pike. Hell lets bring in Taiman too! Should have thrown those sick trout in lower Raritan so I could have had something to do possibly in December instead of goin to Pooohlaski. In all serious I am actually intrigued to see what trout fishing will be like in TP waters and a few lakes. This could be great for some and devastating for others.

[bigfishy]

http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/pdf/2014/trout_allocation14-sched.pdf

The areas in pink are stockings that were canceled due to the latest outbreak on 4-14-14....:mad::mad:

[EJS]

Now the numbers on the latest stocking allocation PDF are starting to make sense! Hatcheries in other states have operated for decades without such infections. The problem is not in raising trout!

[Eskimo]

.


My recommendation is to NOT euthanize the 90,000 trout, but instead stock them a Seeley's Pond (Union County). The poachers will have the pond cleaned out within a few days just like they did before opening day this year.

If there is an outbreak of Human Furunculosis in Plainfield and Bound Brook, landscapers and diners all over North Jersey will be short-handed. :)





.

[Eskimo]

.



Start stocking more smallmouth, walleye and pike.



My issue with this is if people get it in their heads that it's the hatcheries' responsibility to keep the rivers stocked with bass, many anglers won't treat them as the valuable natural resource they are.

The anglers might regard them as a put-and-take species and just load them up on their stringers where ever they find bass.

Bass grow so slowly, a put-and-take attitude, even with increased stocking, can only hurt the bass fishing.




.

[NorthJerzyG]

I understand the states doing by not wanting to further spread the disease but i don't understand why they just don't dump the sick fish in an already polluted river.
114 + 90 thousand is a lot of fish.
Could have put em in the passaic, not told anyone and in a few years had a trophy trout river I'd the pike dont eat em.

+1 Why not just dump em in the Passaic?

Possibly fear of having more birds spread the disease to other areas? Only reason I can think of not to.

[Michael82929]

Yes... another 90000 fish will be euthanized.

Most likely you will see over the years, less and less brown and brook trout and more rainbow trout.

Considering the hatchery has had an a stellar record keeping our rivers and lakes stocked, this is just a sad story that effects everyone.

Stock walleye, pike, bass... you over populate a body of water with these fish and all you will have is stocked size fish to catch.

These species have an excellent reproductive track record. We just pull too many of them out of the water to do their thing.

[Almaink]

I am beyond pissed off. They want to drag Christie over the coals but no investigation of F&G? The D&R didn't get any brookies only browns and now no more fish at all? Where did all the Rainbows go? People bought their trout stamps for what? I want my money back...

OK so I just got off the phone with a guy at the hatchery. They are going to only stock the remaining trout, mostly rainbows in places they will last all summer. No more going into fish and take waters that get to hot in the summer. I'm still pissed but what ya gonna do? I just hope people still buy licenses next year or else our sport is in big trouble.

[Capt. Lou]

Tough break fo us ardent trout guys! Im not going to ask how all this occured since I personally dont have a clue about raising trout.
However hatchery personnel should have been up on this possibility since this is the states primary source of trout.This disease actually strikes w/o warning ??
No clues, somebody must have been aware of even a remote possibility of this occuring, & in this case having disastrous effects on trout fishing.
Lots of ?'s , probably never get to the bottom of the issue , my opinion somebody / bodies dropped the dam ball !!:mad::(:confused:

[AndyS]

No problem with the lake trout, and they keep stocking them......in Monksville :confused:

[bigfishy]

Lots of ?'s , probably never get to the bottom of the issue , my opinion somebody / bodies dropped the dam ball !!


Much agreed with this statement...I have been following this pretty closely since it came out on the web in late summer -early fall....It seems as if this (furnurculosis) is a SUPER common occurrance in hatcheries throughout the WORLD....So it sounds as if this was something that was going to occur in our main hatchery sooner or later and it does'nt seem as if they prepaired for it or did ALL they could to avoid it.....That being said i'm sure the lack of pre-disease action was do to low/or lack of funds....But if there are going to be future trout stocking problems(ie; the amount of fish stocked per yr.) the lack of funds issue will prob only get worse.....

Pissed off ppl = less license and or trout stamp sales = less funds for the hatchery to make nessessary changes.....

I am probably in the minority, but i would be willing to pay more for a trout stamp and or donate money to fix the problems....Long road ahead

[Michael82929]

Tough break fo us ardent trout guys! Im not going to ask how all this occured since I personally dont have a clue about raising trout.
However hatchery personnel should have been up on this possibility since this is the states primary source of trout.This disease actually strikes w/o warning ??
No clues, somebody must have been aware of even a remote possibility of this occuring, & in this case having disastrous effects on trout fishing.
Lots of ?'s , probably never get to the bottom of the issue , my opinion somebody / bodies dropped the dam ball !!:mad::(:confused:

I really don't think anyone dropped the ball. The employees up at Pequest take the raising of fish in the highest of regards. Brook and Brown trout are very delicate / sensitive fish to raise. I have been involved with the stocking programs for over 20 yrs. Personally, I think the track records speaks for itself.

This last time I remember an issue at the hatchery was when I was 12 yrs old. I am now 36.

A collaborative effort of volunteers, staff, Master's Degrees & PHD's spending effortless amounts of time to keep this program running so that the residence of NJ can enjoy fishing throughout the yr. (Year after year)

Support your local fishery!!!!

Trout stamps so on and so forth.. 10$ a yr.. That's almost a pack of cigarettes. You should get a stamp even if you don't catch trout. So future generations can enjoy a past-time we take for granted.

[Polelock]

Keep in mind that no person caused this to happen. The Hatchery personnel take pride in raising these trout but mother nature had different plans... It is just a shame that it happened..

[Capt. Lou]

If u dont believe anyone dropped the ball what do u personally think occured,since as u stated ur involved with the hatchery!

Many PHD's work on project per ur statement, then ur stating some pretty smart personnel did nothing wrong, then again in ur opinion what went wrong?

Im not close to the issue like u seem to be ,however lots of miles on my waders in over 60 seasons of trout fishing & I go almost every day in season!
And yes its a bargain to trout fish in NJ for the both the quality & quantity of fish available until now!
Im not put out this year due to the fact Im not catching trout because Im personnally having a banner year & Im an OOS License buyer !
I would gladly pay double for my OOS Trout stamp if it would help the hatchery !!!:cool:

[Mikey topaz]

Wow! Not good news at all!! Didnt they give some kind of antibiotic to the fish? Shoulda just treated evrey fish right from the get go!

[Michael82929]

If u dont believe anyone dropped the ball what do u personally think occured,since as u stated ur involved with the hatchery!

Many PHD's work on project per ur statement, then ur stating some pretty smart personnel did nothing wrong, then again in ur opinion what went wrong?

Im not close to the issue like u seem to be ,however lots of miles on my waders in over 60 seasons of trout fishing & I go almost every day in season!
And yes its a bargain to trout fish in NJ for the both the quality & quantity of fish available until now!
Im not put out this year due to the fact Im not catching trout because Im personnally having a banner year & Im an OOS License buyer !
I would gladly pay double for my OOS Trout stamp if it would help the hatchery !!!:cool:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/04/nj_life_pequest_fish_hatchery_all_about_the_trout. html#incart_river_default

go to this link.. It can shed a little light on the matter.

One of the culprits circled overhead, the great expanse of its white wing span catching the updraft. With its beak pointed down, it looked for a place to safely swoop in and snag any one of a million-plus trout for its morning meal.

In some places, the return of the osprey is welcomed sight. Along coastal waterways, conservationists build towers and houses for them to nest.

But here in the Pequest Valley of western Warren County, the osprey is a disease-carrying unwanted predator.

"There were about nine of them," said Jeff Matthews, the superintendent of the state fish hatchery. "That might be the last one."

Ospreys and great blue herons carry a bacteria that leads to a disease called furunculosis, which can wipe out a fish population. The birds brought it in last fall and the hatchery had to destroy about 114,000 brook trout and another 6,000 brown trout.

"We just couldn’t release them and risk infecting the wild population," Matthews said.

The staff at the hatchery strung wires over the 1.2 miles of concrete tanks, and attached to the wires are a few Japanese lanterns and a few thousand shiny Mylar strips.

"We had yellow police tape, but the guys from U.S. Fish & Wildlife told us this would work better," Matthews said. "We also use propane-powered cannons that go off every 10 minutes."

Despite the loss of so many fish, the hatchery was able to release close to a half-million into 210 of New Jersey’s public lakes and ponds and rivers and streams over the last month as the best days of trout season are upon us.

Tuesday morning, as dawn came late behind heavy-lidded gray and stormy skies, the men and women who stock the fish came to work in the waterproof gear they wear, rain or shine.

The $1.3 million hatchery operation is mostly paid for by the 100,000 trout stamps the state sells each year for $10.50, which gets added to the regular fishing license.

How trout are stocked in New Jersey lakes, rivers and ponds
New Jersey's trout fishing season has already opened but fish stocking will continue for weeks to come. In this video, we take a look at the process and some of the people that transport the more than 600,000 trout annually from the Pequest Trout Hatchery in Oxford to 140 lakes, streams and ponds throughout all 21 counties in the state. (Video by Andre Malok / The Star-Ledger)

It is a highly technical operation in some ways, and old-school in others.

A sophisticated electronic pumping system measures the water flow from seven deep wells in the valley aquifer to the fish tanks, but when it comes to herding the trout for delivery, nothing beats a man in waders walking with a screen.

And while there are two pumps that safely vacuum fish out of the tanks and into tank trucks, simple nets and plastic buckets are used to measure the fish to water ratios before the pumping begins.

The fish are moved from one set of small trucks to the larger fleet. The small trucks are washed from tires up with iodine to destroy dangerous bacteria, and never leave the clean zone, except to transfer the fish to the over-the-road fleet.

Those nine trucks are to fishermen what ice cream trucks are to children.

Tuesday, at Branch Brook Park in Newark, the second stop for driver Mark DeVito and John Lipari, a group of people fishing moved from their spot to where the hatchery men were scattering a few hundred fish.

"We’re not getting no bites up there," said Brad Parham Jr., who was fishing with his fiancée, Pauline Walton, and his father, Brad Sr.

Sure enough, within minutes, the elder Parham hooked one of the hatchery-raised 10 1/2-inch brown trout, but the fish wriggled away.

DeVito said the arrival of the fish truck always draws a crowd.

"People always ask what we’re doing," he said. "It’s a cool thing to see."

At the first stop yesterday in Verona Park, DeVito let three boys help stock the lake.

"You guys want to throw some in?" he asked, and encouraged them to approach the truck.

Lipari netted the fish from the truck, then handed it down to DeVito. DeVito then invited brothers Dylan and Liam Frey and Quinn Zebrowski, to wrestle the fish out of the net and toss them into the lake.

"Grab them by the head," DeVito said as the fish slithered out of the boys’ hands.

While this was going on Lipari was asking the boys if they ever went fishing, and the uncle of the Frey boys, Brian Frey, affirmed they did.

Sure enough, when the truck pulled away, Quinn went to his car and came back with a fishing pole.

A cormorant on the lake had already caught a couple, diving and coming up with them in his beak, and Quinn knew that he, too, was in the right place at the right time.

As for a bargain.. 10.50$ for 400000 trout vs 600000 this season.. is still a bargain.. also my opinion of the therapeutic value being out there is priceless. I think you would agree considering all the miles you have put in. I welcome a healthy discussion to talk about this further but I dont think finger pointing or ball dropping will change the fact that this really put a dent into this years fishing and the yrs to come.

I think the leans to unfortunite occurance vs accountability.

[Almaink]

Wow! Not good news at all!! Didnt they give some kind of antibiotic to the fish? Shoulda just treated evrey fish right from the get go!

According to the biologist I talked to they treated the fish two times. They had to wait 21 days after treatment before they could stock the treated fish. The first treatment didn't take so they tried again. After waiting 21 days everything looked oK. Then Monday a few of those treated fish showed signs of the disease again, and since they had already been treated two times a decision was made to not stock them. They also redid the stocking allotments and thats where we now stand.

[Michael82929]

Wow! Not good news at all!! Didnt they give some kind of antibiotic to the fish? Shoulda just treated evrey fish right from the get go!

They did.. it didnt work...

[buzzbaiter]

Stocking doesn't mean they'll survive. Smallie stockings - especially in lakes - has a high failure rate. Rivers? Not sure since river stockings are generally not necessary. It would be interesting to see how stockings into rivers like the pequest or musky - good smallie habitats but poor/fair smallie fisheries - would do. It would be worth a try. I'd pay for a bass stamp in a heart beat if it meant more bass stockings.

[15FOOTER]

I was just amped on caffeine talking out my arse about smallies lol But a controlled experimental stocking on a river that does not have an established population would be interesting. Mike thank you so much for your detailed info on the hatchery situation. I respect the personnel and hatchery operations very much. We have one of the best hatchery's in the country! I am in agreement with you that this was just an unfortunate occurrence, and believe this was bound to happen at some point. There should be no finger pointing or shoulda woulda coulda going on. Our states finest professionals did everything the could think of! The fish are there and with the warm weather everyone will start to see better returns!

[ChaosStarter]

.
My issue with this is if people get it in their heads that it's the hatcheries' responsibility to keep the rivers stocked with bass, many anglers won't treat them as the valuable natural resource they are.

The anglers might regard them as a put-and-take species and just load them up on their stringers where ever they find bass.

Bass grow so slowly, a put-and-take attitude, even with increased stocking, can only hurt the bass fishing.




Apparently you've never met the bucket brigade who keeps whatever the hell they want. Most 'anglers' know exactly what they are and what they can do. It's everyone else who to this day still doesn't care.

[acabtp]

will there be any fall or winter stockings this year or are those fish all gone too?

[SaltLife1980]

Sucks big time.. Hope it does not affect the fall stocking

[Michael82929]

Too early to tell about the fall.

I would have to think it will have some impact...

You would have to think they need to give the 2.5 yr old fish (16 - 18 inch trout) time to mature to the 4 yr old (4 - 10 pds) size and allot a portion of the one yr old fish time to get to 2.5 yrs old.

One yr old fish is 10-11 inches / 1/2 pd. Once I hear something Ill let you know

[Tightlines74]

This is terrible, hopefully they come up with a long term solution so future generations like my 14 year old can enjoy trout fishing in the future as we have in the past

[EJS]

will there be any fall or winter stockings this year or are those fish all gone too?

My best guess is the Fall 2014 stocking will be cancelled. I will verify tonight/tomorrow for sure. I was told the 90,000+ rainbows that were sent to fish heaven were being held for fall stocking, pending the outcome of the latest round of treatment.

Holding out hope for a NJ fall stocking is only going to be a huge let down. The hatchery needs to empty the concrete raceways and decontaminate. They also need to put a roof over head.

[NJ Dave]

If this disease was from birds dont you think this disease already exists in the wild?
I'm sure there are diseased trout in the river from nature and i doubt all the fish that were spring stocked were all disease free.
NJ always had a great stream trout fishery but I see that comming to an end for a few years until the state gets a hand on this problem.

[Doug Vitale]

In light of all the bad news this year with the State's stocking program, and the possibility of cancelled/reduced stockings in the coming years, I think it's time that the NJDF&W looked into the possibility of acquiring trout from other states' hatcheries, such as PA and NY. I am sure that most trout NJ fishermen would be willing to accept a temporary increase in the price of trout stamps to cover the cost of purchasing out-of-state trout to be stocked in our streams.

[Tightlines74]

In light of all the bad news this year with the State's stocking program, and the possibility of cancelled/reduced stockings in the coming years, I think it's time that the NJDF&W looked into the possibility of acquiring trout from other states' hatcheries, such as PA and NY. I am sure that most trout NJ fishermen would be willing to accept a temporary increase in the price of trout stamps to cover the cost of purchasing out-of-state trout to be stocked in our streams.

I would be more the willing to drop more cash on trout stamps every year if that means a permanent solution is found, even purchase stamps for other species as someone else here mentioned to help with the cost. Acquiring from PA or NY is a decent short term answer but what if those states have issues as NJ has this year?

[acabtp]

this late in the year, i doubt that any other state has many surplus stocker sized trout ready to go; we would have had to put our order in a year ago.

it seems to me that the biggest factor in this problem is our "all the eggs in one basket" approach to rearing the brook, brown and rainbow trout at the pequest hatchery and only at the pequest hatchery.

by comparison, vermont (the other state where i do a lot of trout fishing) also stocks a similar amount of fish to NJ: 600,000 yearling trout and salmon and 15,000 2+ year old trophy trout every year. but they do it with five coldwater fish culture stations instead of just one. this is for a state with a population fifteen times smaller than new jersey (so much much less money from taxes to do it with). they don't do trout stamps up there either, it's included with your license.

if NJ had a second coldwater hatchery, it bears to reason that this furunculosis outbreak at pequest would have had much less of an impact than it did where our one and only trout production center basically lost everything.

i don't blame anybody at pequest, i am sure they were working as hard as they could to make sure this didn't happen. this kind of things just happens when you are raising a lot of animals in high density conditions. nobody notices when a barn full of chickens gets sick and dies because there are so many other barns full of chickens. but when our one and only trout hatchery gets wiped out... well, we are noticing.

[Michael82929]

My best guess is the Fall 2014 stocking will be cancelled. I will verify tonight/tomorrow for sure. I was told the 90,000+ rainbows that were sent to fish heaven were being held for fall stocking, pending the outcome of the latest round of treatment.

Holding out hope for a NJ fall stocking is only going to be a huge let down. The hatchery needs to empty the concrete raceways and decontaminate. They also need to put a roof over head.

That information is not correct. As for the fall, they have no real idea. Week by week is hard enough to keep contained.

a - Rainbow trout are resistant to Furunculosis therefore you see an uptick in production in the future. The fish that have been destroyed have been brown and brook trout.

b - I doubt you will see a roof go over the raceways, too expensive and if by chance it breaks you will have bigger problems with the trout that sit underneath it.

[Michael82929]

I would be more the willing to drop more cash on trout stamps every year if that means a permanent solution is found, even purchase stamps for other species as someone else here mentioned to help with the cost. Acquiring from PA or NY is a decent short term answer but what if those states have issues as NJ has this year?


Permanent solution? This is the first time this has happened since Pequest started. This hasnt been a repeat occurence.. Let's see this happen a second or third time before we need to think like that.

Other states have had similar issue that what NJ is facing with at one time or another. You do not want to work with neighboring states when it comes to sharing of fish.

Case / Point - when this first happened, PA was interested in buying the trout we destroyed. Didn't happened based on the liability.

[EJS]

this late in the year, i doubt that any other state has many surplus stocker sized trout ready to go; we would have had to put our order in a year ago.

it seems to me that the biggest factor in this problem is our "all the eggs in one basket" approach to rearing the brook, brown and rainbow trout at the pequest hatchery and only at the pequest hatchery.

by comparison, vermont (the other state where i do a lot of trout fishing) also stocks a similar amount of fish to NJ: 600,000 yearling trout and salmon and 15,000 2+ year old trophy trout every year. but they do it with five coldwater fish culture stations instead of just one. this is for a state with a population fifteen times smaller than new jersey (so much much less money from taxes to do it with). they don't do trout stamps up there either, it's included with your license.

if NJ had a second coldwater hatchery, it bears to reason that this furunculosis outbreak at pequest would have had much less of an impact than it did where our one and only trout production center basically lost everything.

i don't blame anybody at pequest, i am sure they were working as hard as they could to make sure this didn't happen. this kind of things just happens when you are raising a lot of animals in high density conditions. nobody notices when a barn full of chickens gets sick and dies because there are so many other barns full of chickens. but when our one and only trout hatchery gets wiped out... well, we are noticing.

State run hatcheries do not have extra stock in the number NJ needs. However, there are several private hatcheries that do! One is located in WV and does regularly supply Trout to clubs and organizations in NJ for private stockings of NJ waters.

The problem is the state of NJ, specifically one organization, doesn't feel obligated to replace/purchase Trout to replace what they lost!

This argument boils down to $$$,$$$. I know I could place a call right now and get 150,000 Trout (certified healthy), delivered! Problem is who is writing the check, and where do we store them until they are stocked?

[Tightlines74]

Permanent solution? This is the first time this has happened since Pequest started. This hasnt been a repeat occurence.. Let's see this happen a second or third time before we need to think like that.

Other states have had similar issue that what NJ is facing with at one time or another. You do not want to work with neighboring states when it comes to sharing of fish.

Case / Point - when this first happened, PA was interested in buying the trout we destroyed. Didn't happened based on the liability.

Just because this is the first year this has happened doesn't mean history can't repeat itself, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. They already had to euthanize twice this year, why invite the possibility 2 or 3 more time by putting a band aid on it? :confused:

I'm no expert but i drove past the hatchery and maybe this is overly simplifying but wouldn't just completely sterilizing and installing an overhead roof be a simple and permanent solution?

[EJS]

Just because this is the first year this has happened doesn't mean history can't repeat itself, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. They already had to euthanize twice this year, why invite the possibility 2 or 3 more time by putting a band aid on it? :confused:

I'm no expert but i drove past the hatchery and maybe this is overly simplifying but wouldn't just completely sterilizing and installing an overhead roof be a simple and permanent solution?

That's exactly what they are going to do! $4 million to add a roof, improve the raceways, add water treatment, and other needed fixes.