State to stop stocking trout in Lake Mead

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CARSON CITY – After this season, the state is going to stop stocking trout in Lake Mead -- and officials expect to hear from some angry fishermen.

“We’re between a rock and a hard spot,” said Mark Warren, chief of fisheries at the state Department of Wildlife.

In 2007, the department closed its Lake Mead hatchery, where the state raises the trout for stocking in Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, when it was discovered it was infected with quagga mussels. The quagga mussels discharge poison pellets and infect the water with toxins.

Since then the state has been using part of the federal fishery at Willow Beach to raise trout, but the federal government is taking back the section that has been used by the wildlife department.

Department officials briefed a joint Assembly-Senate subcommittee Tuesday on its budget, which includes $500,000 for a feasibility study to get the Lake Mead hatchery operational again.

Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, questioned how much it would cost to bring the fishery back on line. Deputy Department Director Rich Haskins said it would run anywhere from $3 million to $5 million.

Goicoechea quipped that it would be better to let the quagga mussels have it and build a new fishery. Haskins said the state offered it to the federal government “but there were no takers.”

Warren said the federal government will still stock trout in Lake Mohave.

After a spring plant of some 30,000 trout in Lake Mead, the department isn’t going to stock more – at least for the time being. Warren said he expects to hear plenty of complaints.

The quaggas were discovered in the Great Lakes and they attached themselves to boats, which were then launched in the West.