More than 200,000 rainbow trout suffocated in a matter of minutes Tuesday at the American River Hatchery near Rancho Cordova due to an unexpected release of gunk from Folsom Dam that clogged water intakes.<\/p>\n
The unexpected die-off could mean anglers have a tougher time finding fish to catch next year, since the 4-inch Eagle Lake subspecies of rainbow trout were to be released when they grew larger, said Bill Cox, hatchery system manager at the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which also operates the adjacent Nimbus Hatchery for salmon.<\/p>\n
State hatchery managers already were struggling amid a disease outbreak and California\u2019s historic four-year drought to keep enough fish in lakes and rivers to satisfy their legal obligations to supply fish for the state\u2019s nearly 2 million recreational anglers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already had less inventory than we wanted for this hatchery,\u201d Cox said. \u201cNow, if we lose those fish, that\u2019s a big hit. Now, we\u2019re going to have to figure out what we\u2019re going to do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cox said the die-off at the American River Hatchery<\/a> occurred without warning Tuesday afternoon. He said he\u2019s not exactly sure what happened, but he knows that the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages Folsom Dam, \u201cchanged to a pipe they hadn\u2019t use in several years\u201d as part of a dredging operation.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when they did that, a slug of stuff … came down and came into the hatchery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n More than 200,000 rainbow trout suffocated in a matter of minutes Tuesday at the American River Hatchery near Rancho Cordova due to an unexpected release of gunk from Folsom Dam that clogged water intakes. The unexpected die-off could mean anglers have a tougher time finding fish to catch next year, since the 4-inch Eagle Lake … Continue reading More than 200,000 trout die at American River Hatchery<\/span>