WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — One of the more notable scenes around White Sulphur Springs after the June 23rd flood was hundreds of fish either floating dead in the streets, or swimming in flooded parking lots, stores, and homes. Those fish were fugitives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s federal fish hatchery on the edge of town.
“The water was so high fish actually got up and swam out of the building,” said facility manger Tyler Hern. “Unfortunately, the fish were scattered throughout the town and probably Greenbrier County.”
When the flood hit, the hatchery had just over 45,000 trout on station. Hern estimated about half those escaped. However, those which survived the flood had to be destroyed because of the parameters of the hatchery. As a “disease free” hatchery, the White Sulphur Springs facility is fed by a spring. No other fish have ever been in the mountain water which flows through the raceways in Greenbrier County and the fish stored there were hatched there.
“That allows us to raise our fish in a disease free environment, but with the flood water we had some fish that were not trout in our raceways,” Hern explained. “What we have to do is actually depopulate. So we’re going to end up losing about 45,000 fish because of the flood.”
The hatchery is part of the West Virginia DNR’s trout stocking program, but it’s not as big a hit as you might think.
“We’re a little unique. We don’t actually stock that many fish compared to production hatcheries like Bowden and some of the other state hatcheries,” said Hern. “We provide fewer fish, but they are much larger. Because we’re a brood stock station that produces eggs, a by product is these very big brooder fish. We had about 5,000 brood fish that would have been available to the state once we were done spawning them. Those fish are now gone.”
Hern and his staff spent several days burying dead fish. Another component of the hatchery is the mussel research which was also largely destroyed by the high water. But there are bright spots for which Hern is grateful. First, the hatchery’s buildings and infrastructure are still standing.
“We sustained serious damage, but mainly to the stock of fish. Our structural buildings are still standing,” Hern explained. “We’re going to have a lot of repairs to do, but all of our buildings are still in the same place where they stood, so we’re doing better than some people.”
The recovery at the hatchery will be a long one, but Hern said there is still a commitment to return to full production. The process will take quite a while. He estimated the cleanup and repairs will take until at least September. Then they expect to get their first series of eggs to begin rebuilding the brood stock. It takes two years for a trout to go from an egg to a spawnable fish. But Hern said it also represents an opportunity for the hatchery.
“When you’re raising fish, there’s not really any chance to try something new because we’re always at full capacity,” Hern said. “But now we’re able to take a step back and see if there’s a need in the country or the state that isn’t being met that we can now do because we’re in a position to change gears.”