Dan Kumlin, Genoa NFH Maintenance Mechanic, gives the final touches to a restored lake sturgeon culture tank. - FWS photo

  Maintenance needs at U.S. Fish and Wildlife fish hatcheries is an ever present and growing concern of staff, managers and administration officials at all levels of the Department.

This ever widening gap, (132 million dollars in FY 2007), puts constant pressure on hatchery staffs to come up with solutions to meet basic production goals for a vast array of species provided by national fish hatcheries. 

For years hatchery managers have had to make difficult decisions as to what maintenance needs to fund on an annual basis.  Genoa National Fish Hatchery (NFH), located in southwestern Wisconsin, is no exception. 

The hatchery, which is currently in its 75^th year of production, is the second oldest in the Midwest region, and one of the oldest active hatcheries currently operating in the federal system.  Initially constructed in 1932 as a warm water species production facility, the station has morphed over the interim into a highly diverse program which carries out the annual production of 14 species of finfish and up to 8 species of freshwater mussels. 

With this added complexity aquatic species culture systems have evolved to include a wide array of technologies and real property infrastructures. All of thee systems need constant maintenance and care, putting further stress on a static maintenance funding system. 

In order to meet many of the maintenance needs of the facility, hatchery staff had had to be creative, motivated, and skilled to keep many of the older systems viable.  A recent example of this “get it done” work ethic was expressed in a system wide rehab project to upgrade the lake sturgeon culture operation.

Genoa NFH is currently the largest producer of lake sturgeon for restoration purposes in the United States. The hatchery annually produces between 30,000 and 40,000 fall fingerlings of three distinct strains, as well as yearling fish, to meet restoration goals for this unique species across the Midwest. 

The project includes multiple large volume tanks, raceways, and fry rearing equipment.  Due to budget constraints much of this equipment includes converted fish culture equipment from other Genoa NFH programs and salvaged National Wildlife Refuge excess property, all of which require periodic maintenance to meet the annual needs of the project. 

The most recent maintenance demands for this system included the refurbishing of 6 large production tanks for the coming summer grow-out season.  This “rehabilitation” project when bid out to private contractors came in at over $38,000.00, which represented greater than 50% of the hatcheries annual maintenance funds. 

Given the extensive needs of a 75 year old hatchery this was just not feasible.  The hatchery maintenance staff took on the project, and with limited assistance from biological staff, completed the repairs for under $8,500.00 including labor and supplies. 

Without this commitment from the hatchery staff the production of lake sturgeon at Genoa NFH would most certainly have been impacted in the immediate future, with long term ramifications to the restoration program a certainty.