When the fish are ready for stocking, they are pumped by mechanical loader into a distribution truck. The water in the truck's tank when kept cool and well-supplied with oxygen, can hold large numbers of trout for many hours.
The Regional Fish Distribution Unit a large capacity fish transportation truck used by many of the fish hatcheries in the Rocky Mountain Region, is stationed at Hotchkiss National Fish Hatchery. This unit consist of a 42-foot flatbed tractor-trailer with six 750-gallon tanks.
The life support system, which allows transportation of large numbers and weights of fish over long distances, consist of 24 electric aerators and 2 liquid-oxygen bottles weighing 600 pounds each.
This unit is used for stocking large reservoirs with fish throughout Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota and is a very cost-effective and efficient method of transporting fish. It would take seven individual trips with a normal-size stocking truck to equal one trip with the Regional Distribution Unit. An average load of 5-Inch fish on the Regional Distribution Unit numbers 124,000 fish weighing 6,300 pounds.
