Continuing aquatic conservation amid coronavirus
Caring for millions of fish during the pandemic
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents unprecedented challenges to people’s work and daily life across the United States. As we ensure continued safety at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facilities and public lands across the county, we also have millions of fish to care for across the National Fish Hatchery System!
Caring for fish is a 24/7 responsibility. Our hardworking staff and partners are rising to the challenge. Together, we are safely carrying out work needed to give anglers fish to catch, support local economies, and continue conservation and restoration efforts.
The National Fish Hatchery System connects Americans with nature, highlights our shared natural heritage, and supports healthy habitats, clean water, clean air, and an abundance of fish for people and wildlife. Learn more about how hatcheries are continuing conservation, working with partners, and putting public safety first during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Important note: The Service’s national fish hatcheries, national wildlife refuges, and other facilities and public lands can provide healthy outdoor options for visitors. Please visit hatchery and refuge websites for the most up-to-date information on visitation opportunities. Visitors can also call ahead for local conditions. We urge everyone to closely follow CDC guidance and do their part to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Pallid Sturgeon Spawning during a Pandemic (South Dakota)
At Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota, spawning endangered pallid sturgeon is serious business under normal circumstances. During the coronavirus response, staff are taking extra precautions to ensure human safety, in addition to a continued focus on fish safety.
To stave off extinction, Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery has raised pallid sturgeon since 1997. Spawning occurs each April using wild fish captured from the Missouri River.
Wild broodstock (parent fish) are extremely rare, so it is crucial that hatchery staff are ready to go each year during the fish’s brief reproductive window. Individual pallid sturgeon only reproduce every two to three years. So, biologists must search annually for wild pallid sturgeon capable of reproducing in a particular year — not an easy task in such a huge river system!
Skipping a year of hatchery spawning would be a big deal for such an endangered species because it would delay progress in raising, releasing, and recovering the rare fish. Thus, hatchery staff continue their work — with a focus on safety — during spring 2020.
This year’s spawning serves two purposes:
- A portion of pallid sturgeon will grow at the hatchery for one year and then be released in the wild. The annual Missouri River stocking program goes back more than 20 years.
- Some fish will help a multi-agency team of researchers learn more about the pallid sturgeon’s early life stages. These fish will be released into the Missouri River before they are a week old to help scientists learn why this species is struggling in the wild.
The pallid sturgeon is known as a “living fossil,” having changed little over 70 million years. The rare fish is native to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries. It has been protected under the federal Endangered Species Act as endangered since 1990.
Dam building in the 1900s disrupted rivers’ natural sediment, water flows, temperatures, and oxygen levels. These changes destroyed and cut off access to much of the pallid sturgeon’s spawning grounds. The fish might swim hundreds of miles upstream to spawn. Its eggs float back downstream until they hatch. So healthy, free flowing river habitat is vitally important.
Public recreation opportunities: Visitors at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery can enjoy walking trails and rearing ponds for wildlife viewing. The hatchery is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
State Partners in Colorado and Wyoming Support Fish Health Inspections during COVID-19
With the coronavirus hampering travel across the United States, our state partners stepped up to help with fish health inspections at national fish hatcheries.
Normally, staff at the Bozeman Fish Health Center in Bozeman, Montana, travel to hatcheries across the region to conduct annual inspections. Hatcheries must have a current health certificate to obtain necessary permits to stock and move fish. These annual inspections are part of that permit process and scientists test for potential fish diseases.
Interstate travel, however, was not an option due to safety concerns. So our partners at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department conducted fish health inspections at Saratoga National Fish Hatchery in Wyoming. Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff likewise helped with fish health inspections at Leadville National Fish Hatchery in Colorado.
In both cases, our valued state partners traveled in state to the hatcheries and spent hours collecting samples from hundreds of fishes in March and April 2020. The tissue samples collected were then shipped to the Bozeman Fish Health Center for analysis.
Assistance provided by these state partners, and others, are crucial to continuing national fish hatcheries’ ability to stock healthy fish and enhance outdoor recreation for the American people.
We are deeply grateful for continued support from and collaboration with our state partners. Strong partnerships help us all accomplish shared conservation goals to benefit current and future generations.
Razorback Sucker Reproduction During a Pandemic (Colorado and Utah)
At Ouray National Fish Hatchery’s Grand Valley Unit in Colorado, love is in the air for the rare razorback sucker. Biologists recently donned face masks and followed social distancing practices to ensure the next generation of these native Colorado River fish spawn, survive in captivity, and can be released into the wild in the future. A large adult female may produce 200,000 eggs!
Razorback sucker have been around for three to five million years. Yet for many decades, they were struggling due to human actions, such as water flow changes, building dams, and nonnative fishes introduced in the Colorado River and its tributaries. The razorback sucker was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1991.
Public-private partnerships, in concert with fish propagation at the Ouray National Fish Hatchery in Utah and the Grand Valley Unit in Colorado, have since made great strides in supporting razorback sucker recovery. With the exception of Lake Mead’s population, all razorback sucker populations are currently maintained through fish stocking. Nonnative fishes eat young razorback sucker before they become adults, which makes continued fish stocking important.
While nonnative fishes are a continued threat to razorback sucker recovery, a recent scientific review suggests that razorback sucker can be reclassified from endangered to threatened, meaning it is no longer at risk of extinction. This would be a major conservation milestone for local, state, federal, tribal, public, and private partners across the Colorado River basin. A formal proposal to reclassify razorback sucker is in the works. It will be open for public comment in the future.
Public recreation opportunities: Visitors at Ouray National Wildlife Refuge in Utah can walk or cycle several trails to see wildlife. The Green River is open to fishing, and Ouray National Fish Hatchery, located on the refuge, is open daily one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.
Walleye Spawning During a Pandemic (North Dakota)
Walleye spawning continued in spring 2020 at the Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery in North Dakota. North Dakota Game and Fish Department staff assisted Service hatchery staff with the game fish spawning, which will provide fish for anglers throughout the state. Hatchery staff and state partners implemented necessary precautions — such as using face masks, sneeze guards, and other personal protective equipment — to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Walleye spawning occurs over a fairly condensed time frame. With walleye egg requests approaching 50 million annually, there is no time to waste — or wait. Several state game and fish agencies in the upper Midwest rely on walleye fry (newly hatched fish) and fingerlings (fish less than a year old) from Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery to maintain recreational fisheries.
Fortunately, hatchery biologists, with the help of our state partners, were able to accommodate spawning efforts, while safeguarding human health and safety, to meet walleye egg requests.
Public recreation opportunities: Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery has 3.5 miles of gravel trails open to visitors 24/7 for walking or biking.
Explore a behind-the-scenes look of how the Service and North Dakota Game and Fish Department partner for walleye spawning:
Story contributors: Rob Holm, Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery; Lacey Hopper, Bozeman Fish Health Center; Sam Stukel, Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery; Nathan Wiese and Connie Young-Dubovsky, USFWS Regional Office (Denver); Brian Scheer, Grand Junction Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office
Story compiled and edited by: Michael D’Agostino, Public Affairs Specialist, USFWS
