NYDEC to Close Connetquot Hatchery

[bkill]

Virus prompts DEC to close Connetquot River hatchery

BY BILL BLEYER|bill.bleyer@newsday.com

September 17, 2008

In a move stirring controversy in the recreational fishing community, a historic Connetquot River fish hatchery will be shut down for several years to eradicate a persistent virus in trout.

Fly fishermen are divided over whether the action, dictated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, is necessary. Some agree it is needed to keep the virus from spreading. Others call it overkill because the disease doesn't affect humans and closing the hatchery will result in fewer fish to catch.



Historic hatchery

There has been a hatchery on the Connetquot River for 144 years. The current facility dates to 1890, Connetquot River State Park Preserve manager Gilbert Bergen said. In late 2006, DEC tests found fish in the hatchery and river were contaminated with infectious pancreatic necrosis, which kills large numbers of young trout. The hatchery was the only one in the state where the virus was detected.



After the testing, the DEC developed regulations that prohibit stocking infected fish in waterways after the end of this year. After the park killed 150,000 baby trout last year in an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate the virus, the DEC decided not to renew its permit, forcing the hatchery to close by Dec. 31.

The department is allowing fish already growing in ponds around the hatchery to be placed in the river for fishermen to catch. And in the coming years, the park will be able to purchase disease-free fish to directly stock the river.

While the hatchery is closed, however, park officials say there will be fewer fish in the river than there are now, in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.

Charles Guthrie, the DEC's regional freshwater fisheries manager, said it would be "catastrophic" if the disease spread.

"The Carmans River, which is only 20 miles east, has the largest naturally reproducing brook trout population on Long Island," he said. "So I feel it's worth losing a little bit of fishing quality to get this river clean again so that in the future we won't have to worry about the disease."

Guthrie said unless the hatchery is replaced or reconfigured to isolate it from the river, it will take at least five years for the virus to die off.

George Gorman Jr., deputy regional director of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said the hatchery and surrounding ponds will be disinfected next year.

The agency will follow the DEC's suggestion to hire a consultant to investigate possible fixes, especially an alternative water source for the hatchery, other than the river, to reduce chances of spreading the virus.

Guthrie said these kind of changes could allow the hatchery to reopen in less than five years.

Officials of the fishing and environmental group Trout Unlimited support the DEC action. "From a conservation standpoint, it's the right thing to do," said Jeff Plackis of Rockville Centre, a member of the group's New York State Council.

George Costa of Mastic Beach, president of the Artflick Chapter of Trout Unlimited, added, "there is still a lot of opportunity out here for fishermen to enjoy the sport of trout fishing" on the Carmans and Nissequogue rivers.



'Ill-advised' move

But some local anglers who regularly visit the park object to the DEC action. Richard Steinberger of Oakdale criticized "this ill-advised and Draconian management 'solution.' Anglers will cease to pay $20 for four hours of unproductive fishing."

Bergen said even with fewer fish in the river next year he did not anticipate any further drop in fishing because, "I think we have [only] the hard-core fisherman now." They would continue to come to the park, he said.

Gorman said it was unlikely the hatchery would be replaced with a new facility because the entire park is on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic hatchery building, he said, serves as a conservation teaching tool for school groups.

HATCHERY FACTS

In 2006 the state DEC found pancreatic necrosis, a virus that poses no known hazard to humans, in the park's rainbow, brown and brook trout. The virus kills most baby trout.



600,000

Number of brook and brown trout before virus detected

150,000

Number of rainbow trout eggs and fry which went through the hatchery annually

20%

Number of fish which survived to be large enough to be stocked in the river

Up to 12,000

Four-hour fishing sessions recorded a year

6,000 to 8,000

Number of fishing sessions since discovery of the virus