fish hatchery visit

Tuesday was an unusually sunny, warm day, perfect for our planned visit to the Ft Richardson Fish Hatchery and the Native Heritage Center.
After showing driver's licenses, registration and proof of insurance for the vehicle, and a background check to be sure we weren't terrorists, three of us were admitted on base and drove to the hatchery. Our tour was given by college intern and future biologist Megan who was an extremely knowledgeable guide.

Begun in the late 50s to provide fish for post lakes, the hatchery raises Arctic Char, Grayling, Rainbow Trout, Chinook (Red) and Coho (Silver) Salmon. It is run by Game and Fish today. We began indoors at a run that held about 100,000 Arctic Char fry. The trough here is an automated feeder. Some of the fish are held for 3 or 4 years before they are released into sport fishing areas.

A new hatchery off the base is almost ready to be open to the public. It will be totally indoors but that will help avoid a variety of biological diseases with better controls and less chance of disease for the fish. The tanks at the new hatchery will be similar to this one: a 20-ft. diameter round tank containing around 9,000 fish, in this case rainbow trout. Fish from the base are currently being transported to the new one and ultimately the base facility will close down. Fish from this tank will be pumped out of the tank through tubes soon to the outdoor tanks that were our last stop.

Moving outdoors, we saw long tanks that had 2 and 3 year old Coho or Silver Salmon. The awnings are so that the fish don't get sunburned! I never thought about a sunburned fish, but in a natural setting, fish congregate in shaded areas, under growth, in the shade and that's exactly what they are doing here crowded together under the shelter.

The last stop were tanks that held 2 and 3 year old rainbow trout, some soon to be released. One big surprise to all of us was that all these fish are sterile! The eggs are removed and subjected to 10,000 psi pressure which alters the chromosomes and you end up with 3 "X" chromosomes instead of XX or XYs. This is done so that hatchery fish will not affect wild fish by cross-breeding with them.

Colorful Rainbow Trout