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Erwin National Fish Hatchery staff had a big year in the National Broodstock Program. Beginning in late July, the spawning season kicked off with the summer-spawners of EED or Erwin x Arlee
strain of rainbow trout. The Arlee (ARD) rainbow trout and Sandwich strain brook trout continued as planned, spawning from October to December. Finally, in January, Erwin’s final rainbow trout strain, FLD (Fish Lake Domestic) began to spawn, and lasted until late March.
After compiling the data from another successful season, staff at Erwin determined they had shipped the most eggs in the facility’s 125-year history to 30 different facilities in 18 states! This season’s egg shipment total came to just under 17 million eggs (16,903,326)! Considering the hatchery has been producing trout and trout eggs since 1897, it is no small feat to break all previous station spawning records. This huge number of trout eggs go to support recreational fishing around the country. During the break in spawning, staff will now shift their focus to much-needed maintenance projects, endangered species work, and preparing to make the 2022 spawning season just as successful!
Learn more about the National Broodstock Program's egg distribution service!
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