Post by VFR on Mar 8, 2023 16:09:27 GMT -5
Hatcheries Make Fish Happen
by Dr. Peter Brookes
You’ve got to hatch ‘em to catch ‘em! The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) maintains a robust network of fish hatcheries to keep Virginia’s waters teeming with rainbow, brook, and brown trout in addition to bluegill, redear sunfish, walleye, musky, crappie, saugeye, and striped bass. Over the last eight years, DGIF stocked Virginia waters with nearly 15,000,000 freshwater fish. Annually, DGIF stocks approximately 1 million catch-able-size trout in some 180 waters around the state.
“What we’re concentrating on is the production of game fish for re-stocking, for creation of sport-fishing opportunities, or perhaps to rebuild populations because of natural conditions,” said Brendan Delbos, DGIF State Aquaculture Coordinator. Many fish populations in the major sport fisheries in Virginia either rely on annual stockings from hatcheries to maintain their numbers or were started with hatchery fish and then sustained by natural reproduction. Read more.....
by Dr. Peter Brookes
i.postimg.cc/7L85T7Jr/screenshot-dwr-virginia-gov-2023-03-08-16-06-34.png
Montebello Fish Cultural Station is a popular location to watch
trout rearing
Montebello Fish Cultural Station is a popular location to watch
trout rearing
You’ve got to hatch ‘em to catch ‘em! The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) maintains a robust network of fish hatcheries to keep Virginia’s waters teeming with rainbow, brook, and brown trout in addition to bluegill, redear sunfish, walleye, musky, crappie, saugeye, and striped bass. Over the last eight years, DGIF stocked Virginia waters with nearly 15,000,000 freshwater fish. Annually, DGIF stocks approximately 1 million catch-able-size trout in some 180 waters around the state.
“What we’re concentrating on is the production of game fish for re-stocking, for creation of sport-fishing opportunities, or perhaps to rebuild populations because of natural conditions,” said Brendan Delbos, DGIF State Aquaculture Coordinator. Many fish populations in the major sport fisheries in Virginia either rely on annual stockings from hatcheries to maintain their numbers or were started with hatchery fish and then sustained by natural reproduction. Read more.....