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| Iron River NFH, Iron River, Wisconsin Credit: USFWS |
Hello, I am Shawn Sanders a visiting Fish Biologist from Iron River National Fish Hatchery,
in Iron River, WI. I was invited to
Idaho for a week of training through an agency program called a “work detail” This allows for sharing of knowledge and
information between our agency employees.
What I have found is that no matter what type of detail, there is quite
a lot to learn, in a small time frame.
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| Male and Female Brook Trout. Credit:USFWS |
In Wisconsin, I work at a cold water hatchery where we culture
Lake Trout and Brook Trout for Great Lakes Restoration. The majority of our fish go to Lake Michigan
with a few that are hauled to Lake Huron.
We truck all of our fish in large straight trucks with each employee
required to maintain a CDL license. Our
total fish production is around 1.6 million Lake Trout and 30,000 Brook Trout. Our hatchery is also a brood facility
providing millions of eggs to other hatcheries around the country.
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| Lake Trout. Credit: USFWS |
I arrived at Dworshak after a 1450-mile weekend car
ride. The drive across the American
interior gave me quite a perspective and reminded me how majestic the vista’s
are within this great country. I did
have the chance to drive along the Clearwater River, which is of course the
main thoroughfare for all the fish which Dworshak cultures.
I was met by Rob Bohn, Fish Culturist, and given the big
tour of the facility. Towering hillsides
surround the facility with luscious coniferous trees; this is quite distinct
when compared to the rolling fields and woods of North Wisconsin. I will say that the sweltering heat of the
last week was not my idea of perfect, but the purpose was learning not
recreating. The staff greeted me with
open arms on Monday, the start of my work week.
I spent time mending bird fencing and watching a presentation about the
new aquaculture system. Tuesday was more
bird fencing along with cleaning ponds with the staff and testing fish
pumps. Wednesday and Thursday we split
Steelhead into empty ponds with mechanical fish pumps and counters. Fish are split on hatcheries so they do not
become too crowded. Crowded fish
populations could lead to disease outbreaks, reduced growth efficiency, or in
the worst scenario, a catastrophic fish loss.
The operation of the fish counter and pumps was a new experience for me,
something novel that I can share with my coworkers at Iron River NFH.
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| Shawn crowding steelhead for splitting. Credit: Angela Feldmann/USFWS |
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| Shawn monitoring flows at a transfer tower. Credit: Angela Feldmann/USFWS |
I did get to spend my “off” time chasing Clearwater Spring
Chinook Salmon. I ended up catching a
wild Springer and releasing it and harvesting a hatchery-marked fish. We smoked the springer with brown sugar and
it turned out to be delicious! I think I
could get accustomed to eating a lot more smoked salmon. I also had the chance to visit Pullman, WA
and also really enjoyed that area.
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| Shawn with a nice Spring Chinook! Credit: Nate Wiese |
Finally, I did spend some time with the Assistant Manager,
Nate Wiese, learning about the specific parts of the water system (within the
hatchery), rearing units, and tank room and how each functioned. This information provided system knowledge
that needs to be shared between facilities for an increased agency knowledge
base.
I thank everyone who made this experience possible it gave
me another vision of our agency and a renewed desire to move our program
forward. Thanks again!
by Shawn Sanders
