Posted Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Mammoth Creek Fish Hatchery should be up and running in 2005

Editor's Note: This is the ninth in a series of articles about Utah's state fish hatcheries.
— Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11

HATCH — A Utah fish hatchery closed because of whirling disease should be up and running soon.

Operated by the Division of Wildlife Resources, the Mammoth Creek State Fish Hatchery is four miles southwest of Hatch, just off of US-89 in beautiful southern Utah.

History

The hatchery opened in 1923 and was named the Panguitch Hatchery. Staff at the hatchery raised about 50,000 sub-catchable trout annually during its first two years of operation. Before being closed, annual fish production had increased to an average of 500,000 fingerling and 160,000 catchable-size trout.

The hatchery was completely renovated from 1982 to 1984. At the suggestion of Effel H. Riggs of Hatch, it was renamed the Mammoth Creek State Fish Hatchery. DWR field services personnel constructed the new facility, which is one of the few hatcheries in the United States equipped with steel raceways.

The hatchery is fed by a natural spring that maintains a constant temperature of 54 degrees year round, making it an ideal place to raise trout. With the almost perfect conditions and proper feeding, fish at the hatchery grow at a rate of 0.70 of an inch per month.

Most of its fish are stocked in Southwestern Utah

Many trout species have been raised at the hatchery since it opened in 1923, including kokanee salmon, lake, rainbow, brook, brown and cutthroat trout. The hatchery also produces splake (a cross between brook and lake trout). Until it was closed, trout raised at the facility were stocked in more than 40 streams and lakes in 13 counties, mostly in southwestern Utah.

Whirling disease discovery

During an annual inspection in April 2002, personnel from the DWR's Fisheries Experiment Station found that some of the fish were infected with whirling disease. Because of the infection, hatchery employees had to destroy 350,000 fish. The hatchery was closed until the source of the infection could be found.

The DWR contracted with a hydrologist to conduct studies on the Mammoth Creek (which runs adjacent to the hatchery) and irrigation ditches above the hatchery to see if the parasite was coming from either of those sources. The tests found that water from Mammoth Creek was seeping into the underground springs that feed the hatchery.

The DWR will be doing several things to stop whirling disease spores from entering the hatchery. Installation of buildings over the raceways — to keep rodents, birds and other predators from bringing spores into the hatchery — started Sept. 7, 2004 and should be finished in November.

The next step will be to install a filtration system to filter the water entering the hatchery. The DWR is currently testing two different filtration systems, followed by ultra-violet disinfection, at its hatchery in Midway, Utah.

If all goes well, testing should be completed this winter and a filtration and disinfection system installed at Mammoth Creek in spring 2005. With the new buildings, filtration system and the addition of a low-head oxygen system (which introduces oxygen into the water) the hatchery should remain whirling disease free and produce even more fish than it did before.

Staff

The hatchery usually employs three full-time employees and one three-month seasonal. At this time, it's staffed by two full-time employees, Gordon Nelson and Ryan Josie. Staff members are excited to get back to full production in 2005 and do their part to help provide and maintain Utah's sport fisheries.

For more information about the hatchery, call (435) 735-4200.