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ActivitiesApril 2007Genoa National Fish Hatchery to Hold
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The Friends of the Upper Mississippi Fishery Services and the three Upper Mississippi River fisheries field stations are joining forces to host their annual Kids' Fishing Day at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 12th, 2007. Children ages 6-12 and their parents will be given an opportunity to learn more about fish and fishing. They also will get a chance to try their luck in a hatchery pond stocked with rainbow trout raised at the Genoa station. Skip navigation links |
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The kids will first be sent through a group of four learning stations where they will learn how to make and tie jigs from a local fishing club, fish identification and fish habitats, fish anatomy and fish health. After an hour of learning, newfound skills will be put into practice in a fishing pond on site. A total of 800 trout between 10 and 14 inches will be stocked. A light lunch will be provided and door prizes supplied by local and national sponsors awarded. No child will leave without something to remember the day by, and plenty will have new stories to tell of the one who didn't get away!
— Doug Aloisi
Genoa NFH Assists Warm Springs NFH Spawn Lake Sturgeon on the Wolf River
On April 21 of 2007, the staff of the Genoa National Fish Hatchery (NFH) assisted the crew of the Warm Springs NFH while spawning lake sturgeon near Shawano, WI. Every spring, personnel from both hatcheries travel to the Wolf River during the annual spawning run of the lake sturgeon in central Wisconsin. Eggs and milt were collected from six female sturgeon, and 30 males.
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The fertilized sturgeon eggs were taken to the Warm Springs NFH to be reared and the eggs were taken to the Warm Springs fish hatchery to eventually fulfill requests for lake sturgeon restoration programs in Tennessee and Georgia.
— Nick Starzl
Endangered Mussel Work Begins at Genoa National Fish Hatchery for 2007
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In Wisconsin, April brings the uncertainty of weather and one never knows what to expect as the clouds begin to build. But at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery (NFH) one thing is for certain in April; the Clam Palace becomes alive with Endangered Higgins eye pearlymussel work. |
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At the beginning of April, hatchery staff drained the pond that held yearling largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and walleye that have been cultured for use as host fish. These fish were then sorted by species with the help of the hatchery's Friends Group and placed in holding tanks.
Next, members of the Region 3 SCUBA dive team stationed at Genoa NFH donned on their dry suits and entered the murky waters of the Mississippi River to collect gravid female Higgins eye mussels. On April 23rd and 24th, volunteers from Iowa Department of Natural Resources, La Crosse Fisheries Resources Office, Twin Cities Field Office, and the U. S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Science Center descended onto the Clam Palace and helped the hatchery staff inoculate over 3,100 host fish with larval Higgins eye. These fish will be held over the next couple of weeks at the hatchery before being stocked out to recovery sites across the Upper Mississippi River watershed.
– Tony Brady
Region 3 Hatchery Sets Production Record
The National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) produces a wide range of fish, amphibian, and freshwater mussel species in support of multiple fishery management goals. Whether producing animals for endangered species recovery, restoration of imperiled populations, supporting cooperative management initiatives with tribal, federal and state cooperators, or providing and enhancing recreational fishing opportunities on National Wildlife Refuges or other federal lands, the NFHS faces many challenges. One of the challenges that the system faces is its ability to produce adequate numbers of disease free, genetically sound gametes (both egg and sperm) to meet production goals.
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This challenge is exacerbated when hatcheries use wild or free-ranging populations. Genoa National Fish Hatchery faces this challenge annually in order to meet its goals for egg, fry, fingerling and yearling production for several species of cool water fish. The hatchery produces walleye, sauger, and northern pike to meet management objectives in endangered mussel recovery, cooperative management programs, and tribal trust responsibilities across much of the U.S. The egg source for these programs are wild stocks of fish located in the Upper Mississippi River within the confines of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. |
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The need to collect wild fish in a system as large and dynamic as the Mississippi River offers special challenges to hatchery crews. The migratory nature of riverine fishes, highly fluctuating river levels, and natural population variability all affect the annual success of this operation. Despite these and other challenges, the hatchery was able to collect in excess of 50 million eggs to support fishery management programs. The resulting eggs and fish from these operations will be transferred to other cooperators in eight states over the coming year to meet a wide range of fishery needs. This year's harvest represents a record in production for the hatchery and bodes well for America's fisheries both at the regional and national levels.
– Roger Gordon
Genoa National Fish Hatchery Gets Involved With Local Outreach Events
April kicks off the beginning of outreach season at Genoa National Fish Hatchery. This past April, Tony Brady, mussel biologist for the hatchery, was asked to give fish and mussels talks at two events. The first event was the 4-H Super Saturday held on April 14th, in which 124 boys and girls ranging from Kindergarten to 6th grade gathered at Esofea, Wisconsin and learned about the hatchery and its many programs. Other stations at Super Saturday included birds of prey, hunting safety, and a fishing pond. The Super Saturday event was headed up by the Vernon County 4-H Leader/Parent Federation and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The second event that Brady participated in was Environmental Days at West Salem Middle School. The middle school invited the hatchery to talk about Endangered Freshwater Mussels as part of their efforts to inform their students about organisms they are rarely exposed to. The mussel presentation was attended by over 200 3rd and 5th graders. Other speakers that were invited to present at the Environmental Days included biologists from the Army Corp of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
– Tony Brady
For additional information about any accomplishment report please contact Genoa National Fish Hatchery.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
