On Friday, April 3, Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Region, joined Senator John McCain and representatives from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and Mohave County to celebrate the next step of the March 4, 2015 Cooperative Agreement to repair aging infrastructure at Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery and to continue stocking trout. In 2013, the pipeline failure at the hatchery caused a loss of a reliable water supply and 40,000 fish. At that time, it was determined that the intake pipes needed to be repaired to continue to raise trout year-round. However, a complete replacement and repair of the system was cost-prohibitive within the Service’s Fisheries Program budget. The Service worked closely with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and many other partners, to find a viable solution for repairing the intake water pipeline at the hatchery. These efforts led to the cost-share partnership agreement signed on March 4, 2015, between the Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. This agreement is expected to bring economic benefits to Arizona by providing continued future sport fishing opportunities, while enabling the Service to meet Trust responsibilities, and benefit two endangered species.
The Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery is located on the Colorado River (upper Lake Mojave) 11 miles downstream from Hoover Dam. Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery was established in 1959 to raise rainbow trout. The hatchery also raises razorback sucker and bonytail. In addition, the hatchery plays an active role in developing culture protocol for endangered razorback sucker and bonytail chub. Each summer thousands of these fishes are stocked in their native habitat, the Colorado River, with the aim of aiding their recovery. The Service releases a target of 144,000 rainbow trout annually in the Davis Dam tailwater, in the Willow Beach area of Lake Mohave, and downstream on Tribal lands along the lower Colorado River.
