There is good news and bad news at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Fish Hatchery in Summerville following the Labor Day Weekend Flood.
John Lee Thomson, the DNR trout stocking coordinator and Josh Tannenhill, Summerville Fish Hatcher manager spoke with the Rome News Tribune this weekend and said that the bad news is that all the raceways went under water and some trout escaped into the creek leaving the hatchery. Some trout were scattered in low areas near the hatchery. Good news is that there still a lot of fish in the raceways.
The hatch house was unaffected and the sturgeon remained in good shape in there. The trout have been “graded” or separated by size into separate raceways. A fish count has been done and it showed that 77% of the trout survived the adverse conditions. Prior to the flood, fingerling trout had already been sent to the Burton and Buford hatcheries to be grown to catchable size to stock in 2023.
A year ago, Whirling Disease was found in Summerville and other trout hatcheries in the state. The trout were euthanized and the hatcheries were decontaminated and all gear sterilized. New trout were brought in and the trout stocking took place as normal this season, and in 2023 the stocking trucks will again supply us with plenty of fish. These hatchery and fisheries folks do great work and should be applauded.
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