Hatchery Projects
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Selection Marker ImageFish Hatchery Production Plan
Selection Marker ImageKamas State Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageFountain Green Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageNative Aquatic Species Culture Facility
Selection Marker ImageJones Hole National Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageBig Springs Tribal Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageWhiterocks State Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageHatchery

Collage of Hatchery projects in Utah

The Fish Hatchery Production Plan was mandated by the Central Utah Project Completion Act (CUPCA Section 313(c)) to identify long-term needs and management objectives for hatchery production. The Central Utah Project and other reclamation projects created many reservoirs in Utah. These flatwater areas provide a variety of water-related recreation opportunities including fishing. Most reservoir fisheries are heavily used and not able to sustain themselves through natural recruitment, requiring management programs dependent on stocking hatchery-reared fish. Fish stocking demands in Utah for reclamation projects have been met in the past through both State and Federal hatcheries. CUPCA identified funding to plan and implement improvements to existing hatcheries and/or to develop new fish hatcheries to increase production of warm-water and cold-water fish for areas affected by the Colorado River Storage Project in Utah.

A plan was developed in 1995 and revised in 1998 that describes Mitigation Commission-funded hatchery improvements in Utah over the next ten years. The planning process considered the need for hatchery improvements, types of fish to be raised, effects on native species from stocking fish and budget and scheduling of implementation. Through the planning process, the need to develop facilities for producing sensitive species, such as native cutthroat trout and threatened or endangered species, has also been addressed. The Plan was revised by a Hatchery Workgroup, incorporating Mitigation and Conservation Plan priorities, feasibility report information, stocking assessment report results and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources stocking policy. An Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact was released in April of 1998.

Implementing the Plan includes:

  • Reconstructing Kamas State Fish Hatchery, a cold water hatchery (completed)
  • Reconstructing Whiterocks State Fish Hatchery, a cold water hatchery (completed)
  • Constructing a new hatchery at Fountain Green (completed)
  • Constructing a new cold water hatchery at Big Springs (completed)
  • Constructing a new warm water hatchery and an interim warm water hatchery (partially complete)
  • Writing State and Tribal stocking policies
  • Including information and education components at all facilities
  • Considering the use of streamside hatching units
CUPCA’s funding authorization for fish hatchery improvements and development is not intended to replace natural production, nor should it be viewed as an alternative to the Commission’s other programs that emphasize habitat restoration objectives. Support for this program does not diminish the Commission’s commitment to implement measures that achieve ecosystem restoration and biological diversity through its other programs.
 
Email Link to the Utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commission, urmcc@uc.usbr.govAddress for Utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commission, 230 South 500 East, Suite 230, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102-2045, (801)524-3146, Fax (801)524-3148