DFG News Archive

DFG Finalizes Partnership to Aid Mono County Hatchery

California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Director Ryan Broddrick today announced a public-private partnership that will help sustain and improve operations at the Hot Creek Trout Hatchery in Mono County. A memorandum of understanding memorializing the partnership, the result of discussions that began earlier this year, will be signed at the Mono County Board of Supervisors meeting in Bridgeport on Dec. 7.

“We realize the important role that hatcheries play in supporting recreational opportunities in nearby communities, and it’s important that those communities have a stake in this process,” Broddrick said. “I look forward to working with local groups such as the Hot Creek Hatchery Foundation to maintain and improve our hatchery operations statewide.”

Under the agreement, the Hot Creek Hatchery Foundation will help the DFG develop a long-term hatchery master plan. The Foundation also will provide 40 percent of the hatchery’s operating expenses, totaling about $142,200, including fish food, fuel, and other commodities used by the hatchery. The DFG will provide the remaining 60 percent of operating expenses, or about $219,300.

DFG will also conduct resource assessment surveys and determine statewide DFG trout hatchery egg needs, and will provide supervision of all daily hatchery operations and funding for the salaries and benefits of all state employees working at the hatchery.

“Director Broddrick has shown long-range leadership in support of this partnership,” said Lee Vining resident Tim Alpers, who was instrumental in helping form the Hot Creek Foundation. “I am happy for the trout fishing industry in California, the business community of the Eastern Sierra, and most importantly, the tens of thousands of children and their families that will be able to travel to the beautiful freshwater areas of our state and catch quality trout.”

The Hot Creek Hatchery partnership is intended to provide additional support for state-run hatcheries in the face of declining revenues. The DFG’s overall hatchery program has lost about $2.6 million in funding and 44 total positions, including 27 permanent employees lost through attrition, since the 2002-03 fiscal year.

DFG operates 14 trout hatcheries statewide, which produce and stock approximately 5.4 million fingerling, 1.2 million sub-catchable, and 7.4 million catchable-sized trout annually. The Department’s eight salmon and steelhead hatcheries produce approximately 34 million Chinook salmon, 600,000 coho salmon, and 2.7 million steelhead trout annually.

For more information on DFG’s hatchery program go to: www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/fish1.html