Facilities
Each year the Hatchery acquires 24,000 “fingerlings”, measuring 2” to 3” in length from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The fish are kept in a series of twelve “raceways” or tanks for approximately nine months until stocking time. From time to time, it is necessary to cover the raceways with netting to keep out predator birds such as the Blue Heron and King Fisher. Even with the netting, approximately 750 to 1000 fish are lost each year to predators.
The chiller pond is a holding area for
well water. Well water has no oxygen and therefore needs to be aerated
before it can be used in the raceways. Although the raceways were
originally supplied by spring water, the chiller pond became necessary
when the volumes of spring water dropped dramatically and a seventy foot
deep well was installed to supplement the spring water. The pond is
located at the rear of the hatchery and is surrounded by large evergreen
trees to help keep it shaded and cool in the summer. Water can be pumped
out at a rate of 425 gallons per minute and gravity fed to the raceways
via a 10” pipe located in the low side of the chiller pond. The chiller
pond is also home to many aquatic insects as well, including scubs and
red worms.
Holding ponds on either
side of the main road are home to over 10,000 brown trout. The average
pond depth is three feet and the surface acre is over one-third of an
acre. Ongoing maintenance includes annual draining, algae removal, and
rinsing the gravel thoroughly using high-pressured hoses.
Dating back to 1933, the original building now houses the hatchery offices and provides storage space for tools and materials. Hatchery staff members are able to plan and direct hatchery operations from here, including facility maintenance as well as breeding, stocking and harvesting activities.