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

[Michael82929]

Originally Posted by 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 !!

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 !!!

[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]

Originally Posted by 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 !!!

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201..._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]

Originally Posted by 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!

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]

Originally Posted by 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!

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]

Originally Posted by Eskimo

.
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.