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    News Release: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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    Heather Smathers
    Over 20,000 rainbow trout weighing over 13,000 pounds died at the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery due to low water levels in Lake Mohave starving the facility's water pumps. Staff were able to save over 11,000 fish weighing nearly 8,000 pounds from three raceways, but the fish in the other three raceways did not survive. This is the second major fish die off at the hatchery this year, after 40,000 trout weighing 25,000 pounds died in August due to a clogged water intake pipeline. The losses will seriously impact stocking of rainbow trout in the Colorado River.

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    News Release: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

    Uploaded by

    Heather Smathers
    15 views1 page
    Over 20,000 rainbow trout weighing over 13,000 pounds died at the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery due to low water levels in Lake Mohave starving the facility's water pumps. Staff were able to save over 11,000 fish weighing nearly 8,000 pounds from three raceways, but the fish in the other three raceways did not survive. This is the second major fish die off at the hatchery this year, after 40,000 trout weighing 25,000 pounds died in August due to a clogged water intake pipeline. The losses will seriously impact stocking of rainbow trout in the Colorado River.

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    Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery

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    1.1 WB-PR 11.25.2013

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    Over 20,000 rainbow trout weighing over 13,000 pounds died at the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery due to low water levels in Lake Mohave starving the facility's water pumps. Staff were able to save over 11,000 fish weighing nearly 8,000 pounds from three raceways, but the fish in the other three raceways did not survive. This is the second major fish die off at the hatchery this year, after 40,000 trout weighing 25,000 pounds died in August due to a clogged water intake pipeline. The losses will seriously impact stocking of rainbow trout in the Colorado River.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    15 views1 page

    News Release: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

    Uploaded by

    Heather Smathers
    Over 20,000 rainbow trout weighing over 13,000 pounds died at the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery due to low water levels in Lake Mohave starving the facility's water pumps. Staff were able to save over 11,000 fish weighing nearly 8,000 pounds from three raceways, but the fish in the other three raceways did not survive. This is the second major fish die off at the hatchery this year, after 40,000 trout weighing 25,000 pounds died in August due to a clogged water intake pipeline. The losses will seriously impact stocking of rainbow trout in the Colorado River.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 1

    U.S.

    Fish and Wildlife Service

    News Release

    Public Affairs Office


    PO Box 1306
    Albuquerque, NM 87103
    505/248-6911
    505/248-6915 (Fax)

    Southwest Region (Arizona New Mexico Oklahoma Texas) www.fws.gov/southwest/

    Release Date: November 25, 2013


    Contact: Nicole Haskett Osborn at: (505) 248-6599

    Update: Massive Fish Die Off at Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery
    On Thursday, November 21, the elevation in Lake Mohave was low enough to starve the rainbow
    trout production water pumps at Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery (NFH). The loss of water
    flow affected six raceways causing no water to be able to flow through to fish. Three of the six
    raceways under production were loaded light enough that they did not have any fish losses at the
    time the issue was noted. Staff were able to pull screens to release live fish from these raceways,
    where they were then drained into Lake Mohave, saving 11,105 fish weighting a total of 7,782
    pounds.
    Unfortunately, the three other raceways were lost and no fish survived. The total loss for those
    raceways was 20,880 fish, weighing a total of 13,420 pounds.
    The Willow Beach NFH uses water from the Colorado River to raise rainbow trout for state
    recreational angling programs. Fluctuations in the flow of the river affect how much water is
    available to the hatcherys intake pipeline.
    Problems with the pumps had occurred once before this year on August 12, when sometime during
    the night the pipeline at Willow Beach NFH that delivers water to raceways became clogged with
    sediment and vegetation killing thousands of pounds of rainbow trout. The blockage was not
    discovered until early Tuesday morning when hatchery staff went to the raceways to feed the trout.
    All of the 40,000 trout that were lost were large, stockable sized fish, weighing a total of 25,000 lbs.
    at last count. The hatchery is operating with only one intake pipeline due to the structural failure of
    the second pipeline.
    As with the first die off, this massive and unexpected loss of fish will have a serious impact on
    rainbow trout stocking into the Colorado River.

    ________________________________________________________________________
    The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and
    enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
    We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific
    excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to
    public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit
    www.fws.gov.
    www.fws.gov/southwest/

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