Hagerman Hatchery Has Too Many Fish To Feed

Idaho Department of Fish and Game managers have successfully increased the number of rainbow trout produced at the Hagerman Fish Hatchery - and that leaves them with some tough choices.

The hatchery has 200,000 more fish than it did at this time last year.

“And I can’t afford to feed them,” hatchery manager Joe Chapman said.

It is Fish and Game’s largest trout farm, producing 40 percent of the state’s catchable rainbows.

With the fish growing by an inch a month, Chapman said he has three options: not feed them for periods of up to two weeks; plant them earlier than normal in Idaho’s waterways, making them more vulnerable; or hope for more budget money.

The hatchery’s annual budget is $420,000 per year, Chapman said, and about half the money is spent on fish food. Feed prices rose 25 percent last year.

Meanwhile, full-time employment at the hatchery has decreased from seven to four, Chapman said. Part-time employment is down 35 percent.

The increased number of fish at Hagerman is partly because of its victory over predatory birds. Using chicken wire, workers have screened off most of the raceways. Birds, particularly black-crowned night herons, are not plundering the trout.