After decades of efforts to boost Humboldt County’s threatened steelhead trout population, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is ending operations at the Mad River hatchery. The property will remain open for public access to the river, facilities will be repurposed for office space, and trout stocking in inland waters will continue. Officials state it’s a combination of aging infrastructure, significantly costly repairs and maintenance, modernization needs and low fish production and returns. ”It operates on about $730,000 annual budget, we estimate it needs one million dollars immediately, and the annual operating cost just to keep the status quo. We’re looking at 10 million in immediate repairs that need to be tackled, and long term to make it a reliable hatchery going forward, we need about $30 million,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife information officer, Peter Tira.

Other hatchery news:

• The Montecito Journal (Calif.): A fish story that’s no fish story
• Undercurrent News: California releases 3.5m juvenile fish to revive struggling salmon fishery