Fish for future: Hatchery works to provide stocks ... - Koi fish pond

Each spring at the North Mississippi Fish Hatchery, the spawning season is under way, and manager Justin Wilkens and his biologists are knee-deep in work as 36 indoor tanks brim with newly hatched fish.

The 10,000-square-foot hatchery, built in 2006 at the west end of Enid Lake, roughly 60 miles south of Memphis, plays a key role in the sport fishing industry for the Mid-South region, raising about 2 million fish each year, including bass, crappie and bluegill, and nonsport fish like channel catfish, to ensure future generations can enjoy fishing.

Paddlefish can grow an inch per week and can reach 100 pounds.

Jacob Dill, assistant manager at the North Mississippi Fish Hatchery, feeds paddlefish in one of the concrete raceways. The fish are tagged and scanned so they can be tracked.

However, the work done there proves even more essential with species of ?special concern,? like the paddlefish.

While different species like largemouth bass and crappie are spawned in Enid, paddlefish are spawned at the Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery in Tupelo, but raised in the Enid facility.

Paddlefish occur naturally in the Mississippi basin area and in the Tombigbee, Tennessee and Sunflower rivers, but have steadily declined over the years because of changes in habitat. Even more importantly, the demand for paddlefish roe, considered ?the new caviar,? has made it an increasing target for illegal harvests.

Paddlefish are found as far south as Louisiana, as far west as Montana, and even in China.

?The ones in China may look a little different or get bigger, but they?re from the same family,? Wilkens said.

The paddlefish can grow an inch per week, but it is still held as

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Article Source: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/may/29/fish-for-future/?partner=yahoo_feeds

Source: http://www.koifishpond.org/fish-for-future-hatchery-works-to-provide-stocks-save-dwindling-species/

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