Arkansas Game and Fish Commission held a ceremonial ground breaking at Jim Hinkle Fish Hatchery on Thursday, Sept. 23 to commemorate renovations to take place.
A ceremonial ground breaking was held at Jim Hinkle Fish Hatchery on Thursday, Sept. 23 to commemorate renovations to take place.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Chairman Bobby Martin addressed those gathered for the ceremony.
“This is a little bit like Christmas morning, especially for the fisheries division. For the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, this is a long-awaited day…We really appreciate you taking time and being out here. This day has to make you feel reminded how we ought to be very proud to be the Natural State. You can’t come up here without being reminded that it is the Natural State,” said Martin.
“It’s hard to not be proud of the Natural State and it’s hard to ever miss that when you come up here. Some things that are always staggering for us when we think about how much the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Agency contributes, not just to our community but to the economy in the state. Tourism in the state of Arkansas generates somewhere around $9.7 billion in consumer spending around outdoor recreation. Recreational fishing is way up at the tip of the spear of that and why people come here to the Natural State,” said Martin.
Last year, approximately 165,000 resident trout stamps and approximately 66,000 non-resident stamps were sold. Martin stated trout fishing generates more than $180 million of direct revenue for the state.
“If you’re a trout angler, this place is on your bucket list. We are all very proud that trout fishing in Arkansas is world renowned and well-known fishing destination…We are super proud to be able to be doing the kinds of things we are here today,” said Martin.
Commissioner Rob Finley addressed the crowd.
“Welcome to the greatest trout fishery region ever told. Our story today won’t end today,” said Finley, stating it is the beginning of a new chapter.
Finley stated money from the tourism industry is important to the community. “All the money gets filtered back into our communities…That’s why it’s important for you to be here. That is why it is important this hatchery continues to grow and prosper. That’s why it is important to put that money in.
Quoting a James Garner movie, Barbarians at the Gate, Finley said, “‘Every penny you give me to spend, I am going to give back to you wrapped up like a pretty little nickel.’ It is the same thing with this. The money we put into this goes back into our communities wrapped up like a pretty little nickel and it becomes $180 million or more. It goes back to our families, to our communities,” said Finley, stating the communities’ benefit from it. He thanked everyone for their efforts and those who buy trout stamps for helping in this project.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Director Austin Booth discussed Arkansas conservation.
“In the 40s and 50s, when the Army Corps of Engineers finished their dams, it transformed these waters from warm waters to cold waters and completely changed the landscape of north central Arkansas as we knew it then. There was a substantial conservation challenge there and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, to their credit then, had a vision for conservation. We are now enjoying the fruit of that vision of conservation. That same vision of conservation avows today,” said Booth.
“Fish from this hatchery will not only go in 140 miles of tail water but they will also go into 42 stocking locations throughout the state,” said Booth.
“The hatchery once was able to supply up to half of the 2 million rainbow trout stocked annually in the state, with the remaining trout coming from the federal hatcheries. But after 46 years and two recent flood events, the hatchery has seen extensive wear. While regular maintenance and a renovation on the dam that controls water going into the hatchery has kept much of the infrastructure operational, many larger components, including the facility’s metal silos are in need of replacement. This wear on equipment has reduced the productivity of the hatchery to half of what it historically produced,” was stated in a press release.
Further stated in the press release, “AGFC Assistant Hatchery Manager B.J. Vandiver said some of the metal silos had to be taken completely out of production for safety concerns to hatchery staff.
“The metal has corroded over the years so much that we were seeing holes form in the sides of the tanks,” Vandiver said. “When we harvest trout, we have to climb down in the tanks, and you could see where some of the metal was beginning to buckle and groundwater from around the tank was seeping back in. We just had to take them offline.”
The renovation will replace those old metal silos with round concrete tanks which should last much longer.
“We have concrete raceways here as well, and we originally wanted to just add more of those in place of the silos,” Vandiver said. “After a trip to a Wyoming hatchery that used the round concrete tanks, we saw that it was a better design.”
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Fisheries Division Chief Ben Batten addressed the crowd.
“I have the responsibility of leading 94 very talented men and women that are on the grounds, sweating, working hard to produce excellent fishing opportunities across the state. I think a lot of people kind of take for granted the trout that we have in our streams just kind of show up there and that is not the case. It’s at least 15 months from the time we start working on a fish knowing it is going to go out there to catch,” said Batten.
The hatchery was donated in 1985 by the Kroger Corporation to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Batten stated a few years ago, several million dollars were spent on the dam.
“These investments we make in improving this facility are really just minor in comparison to the benefit that Arkansans see from this work,” said Batten.
Batten said there will be three areas of improvement during the hatchery renovation. “Number one, our capacity for fish production. Number two, our flexibility for fish production and number three, our impact on disease management. The project includes replacement construction of 24 new 28-foot round tanks, a new water supply and discharge, two new vegetation removal intake screens and a new UV water disinfection system. This whole renovation comes with a $6.7 million price tag. Currently, because of the deteriorating conditions of the facility, our capacity if half of what it has historically been,” said Batten, stating Arkansas Game and Fish Commission produces half of the trout stock each year and federal partners produce the other half.
“When we’re down by half, the state’s down a quarter of its own fish production. This impact is felt on the ground by our anglers, and we have been able to measure it scientifically through krill surveys and other mechanisms. This renovation is going to give us the ability to increase our production numbers back to a million trout or more as needed, based on the direction and recommendation of trout management program led Christy Graham and her team,” said Batten, stating the commission will strive to provide quality experience anglers expect and deserve.
Batten stated the science of trout production has improved since the facility’s construction. “We have worked with some counterparts in Wyoming, who have one of the latest, greatest facilities and we are now going to be working with modified tanks that are shorter and wider than what we currently have. This is going to help us produce trout more efficiently by decreasing water usage, increasing our growth rates and will result in an overall lower cost per each fish produced. We will also be going to continue to produce a quality product. With our fish being grown up to 12 inches, this is a large size compared to around the country when you look at the average stocked fish and we are fortunate to be able to do that here in Arkansas. Our increased capacity also brings with it increase in flexibility for production. This is going to be helpful in the event that one of our federal partners has to go offline or decrease production due to disease, renovation or some other temporary unseen obstacle. We will be able to then increase our production to make up and mitigate that loss. In addition, it gives us flexibility to experiment with the production of additional types or strains of trout species. For example, we have recently been able to introduce tiger trout,” said Batten, stating it is a hybrid and is popular with anglers.
The upgrades will be critical for future disease management. “Unfortunately, in 2015, this facility was struck with an infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN). The consequences of having that in this facility meant we could no longer stock fish from this facility above here because we would risk reinfecting our own hatchery and we had to quit stocking the Greers Ferry tailwater because of their unique naturalized self-reproducing brown trout population,” said Batten.
“This renovation will include a number of features that will allow for better disinfection,” said Batten, stating it will allow the facility to get back to where they are able to stock across the state without disease concerns.
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