The raceways have already been covered with ice for seven days this winter. While the ice never gets more than three or four inches thick, it still disrupts the normal feeding schedule for the fish. As long as the ice remains completely covering the raceway, fish can?t be fed and raceways can?t be cleaned. However the staff remains on high alert, looking for even the smallest of holes or cracks in the ice to throw feed into.

The fish aren?t the only ones disrupted by these icy conditions. When ice forms on the raceway, it tends to freeze to the dam boards that are located at the end of the raceways and control the water depth. If this ice isn?t chipped away from the dam boards on a regular basis, the raceways can overflow causing a serious mess. Biologists will normally chip ice about four times a day: when they arrive at work, just before or after lunch, before they leave work and around ten o?clock at night.

These conditions usually last through the end of February and sometimes even into the first of March. But this year, it seems that anything goes when it comes to the weather.