New Mexico to Re-Evaluate Where It Stocks Trout

By WES SMALLING, NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

With New Mexico’s fish hatcheries stretched to the limit, some waters of New Mexico may get stocked with fewer fish this year.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish regularly stocks about 160 of the state’s waterways with fish — many with rainbow trout — but drought, whirling disease and the temporary closures of two state hatcheries are causing the agency to reprioritize where it will be stocking trout.

“Our goal is to make the most of what we’ve got and provide anglers with the best trout fishing opportunities possible,” said fisheries chief Mike Sloane. “We are currently renovating two of our fish hatcheries, and until they are operating again, we are evaluating the best ways to distribute trout in waters across the state.”

Over the past several years, the Department has spent millions of dollars securing additional water rights for its hatcheries, and adding covered waterways and water-purification mechanisms at its trout-rearing facilities in efforts to control whirling disease, but the trout-killing parasite has reappeared at the hatcheries a number of times. Recent droughts have also made raising trout difficult, especially at hatcheries that rely on rivers for their water sources.

The Lisboa Springs hatchery near Pecos and Los Ojos hatchery near Chama are currently closed. The state’s three other hatcheries that produce rainbow trout are up-and-running and the agency has stocked about

1.9 million of them in the state’s waters over the past two years.

The agency will adjust how many fish will be stocked and where based largely on recent angler surveys “to meet demand and spread it around, put the fish where the people want them the most,” said Dan Williams, spokesman for the Game and Fish Department. “We just don’t have as many fish right now. It’s pretty much affecting all the trout fisheries statewide that normally receive the stocker fish.”

One place that will continue to receive fewer stocked trout is Bluewater Lake. Drought and an overpopulation of suckers and goldfish at the state park lake near Grants have hurt the once- great fishery. In 2003, the Game and Fish Department stocked Bluewater with thousands of non-reproducing tiger musky to prey on the suckers and goldfish. According to the Department, many of the muskies are now more than 2 feet long and appear to be doing their job by gobbling up the unwanted fish. The agency has continued to stock the lake with rainbow trout — larger fish than in previous years, but fewer in number.

Other waters that will receive fewer hatchery-raised fish are yet to be determined.

“Until the renovations are completed at the hatcheries, our plan is to adjust stocking schedules to reflect what the remaining three hatcheries are producing and prevent any one fishing destination from being overly impacted,” said Brian Gleadle, the Department’s northwest area operations chief.

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