{"id":2295,"date":"2019-02-05T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T07:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/habitat.fisheries.org\/?p=2295"},"modified":"2019-02-05T07:00:24","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T07:00:24","slug":"shutdown-hurts-native-trout-recovery-in-national-fish-hatchery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/shutdown-hurts-native-trout-recovery-in-national-fish-hatchery\/","title":{"rendered":"Shutdown Hurts Native Trout Recovery in National Fish Hatchery"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unprecedented duration of the most recent government shutdown has implications for our nation\u2019s natural resources. During the fourth week of the shutdown, I checked in with Nathan Wiese, the Project Manager for the Mora National Fish Hatchery (NFH) in Mora, New Mexico to learn about its impacts on our fisheries. Nathan and his staff are tasked with the recovery of Gila trout (Oncorhynchus gilae<\/em>), a critically threatened trout native to the southwestern US (Figure 1).\u00a0 The hatchery manages approximately 50,000 fish, including Gila trout broodstock (mature fish used for breeding), wild origin Gila trout, and Bonytail Chub (Gila elegans<\/em>).\u00a0 During the shutdown, Nathan was the only staff member authorized to protect \u201cGovernment Property\u201d (i.e. the fish), and worked alone, without pay, to keep them alive.\u00a0 The six full-time staff were on unpaid furlough status, and not permitted to work.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1. Gila Trout of Mora NFH origin, captured in Whitewater Creek, NM. (Credit: N. Wiese).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lauren: How have typical daily hatchery operations changed over the last few weeks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nathan: \u201cWe’re a Recirculating Aquaculture Facility, so typical operations include systems checks and normal fish chores such as feeding, cleaning, and diagnostics.\u00a0 During the shutdown, I’ve been doing as much as I can to keep normal operations going, but nothing is getting the attention it should.\u00a0 We had a really cold snap two weeks ago (-10<\/em>\u00b0<\/em> F overnight temperatures; Figure 2), that froze several domestic water lines and snapped a make-up water flow meter in our production facility.\u00a0 On my morning rounds, I had water hitting the ceiling in a geyser.\u00a0 Fortunately, we had a back-up part on hand and the fix was relatively simple, albeit very wet!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Figure 2. A cold snap hits Mora NFH during the most recent government shutdown (Credit: N. Wiese).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lauren: How are the fish? Has the shutdown thrown the hatchery into \u2018survival\u2019 mode?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nathan: \u201cWe’re squarely in survival mode, but the fish are doing well so far.\u00a0Thankfully, there haven’t been any disease episodes, etc., but I’ll be out of fish food in the next 60-days, so I hope we make some progress soon.\u00a0 We are getting close to spawning season (about a week out); I have already noted gravid females [those carrying mature eggs].\u00a0 Unfortunately, our genetic team was also furloughed, so if this keeps going, we’ll not have the benefit of their pedigree spawning matrix.\u00a0 The matrix has improved survival rates almost three-fold over the past several years because of the extremely small starting populations we’ve dealt with.\u00a0 Ditto with our cryo-preservation specialists.\u00a0 I’m not sure if I can get the milt [sperm] sent that we were counting on for this spawning season. That will be a blow to Gila trout recovery efforts this year and into the future.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Lauren: Are there long-term impacts that this shutdown could have on the hatchery and Gila Trout?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nathan: \u201cWe were in the middle of a major construction project installing 12-foot dual-drain circular tanks in one of our main re-use systems (Figure 3).\u00a0 That project is at 100% stop.\u00a0 If we can’t get back on it, we’ll have to cut the number of Gila trout we support at Mora NFH in 2019.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I can only speak for Gila trout, but we’re going to see negative repercussions well into the future for this program.\u00a0 I’ve got cohort of Iron Creek lineage Gila trout that I expect will age-out of productive breeding after this season.\u00a0 We’re right on the verge of missing them and without our genetic support team and previously preserved cryo milt, we’re not going to be where we could have been.\u00a0 It could take years to regain the ground we\u2019ll miss. It\u2019s frustrating, but we’ll keep plowing forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Figure 3. Major construction project at a standstill (Credit: N. Wiese).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lauren: Any news from other hatcheries?\u00a0 Does the Fish and Wildlife Service create contingency plans for these scenarios?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nathan: \u201cHatchery staff tend to be go-getters. Morale is low, but our staff is making sure that the fish are being taken care of across the National Fish Hatchery system.\u00a0It\u2019s really a testament to the people that work in this profession; they mostly do it because they love it.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I’ve been through a couple of shutdowns in my 14-year career.\u00a0 I think each administration provides new guidelines to the Departments for handling them, so it can be difficult to plan contingencies.\u00a0 That said, we’ll certainly be documenting what’s working and not so that we can be better prepared for the future.\u00a0 When you hear the words “Shutdown” and “Record-Breaking” together, it is never good for planning.<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, our Agency is doing everything they can to find previous year allocations that can be used for emergency purchases.\u00a0 We ran out of propane in our housing, just in time for the sub-zero temps, and our Regional leadership was able to find funds to purchase that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lauren: Hatcheries frequently collaborate with state agencies.\u00a0 Can the state help out at all in these situations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nathan: \u201cWe have some exceptional state and volunteer partners.\u00a0 They’ve been keeping tabs on how we are doing.\u00a0 Just this morning, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish loaded surplus Gila trout broodstock for supplemental stocking to lighten our fish load onsite (Figure 4).\u00a0 It\u2019s awesome to see that support when we need it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, our normal communication channels, social media, website, monthly reports, etc., have been shutdown during the furlough so it\u2019s hard to get the message out on what’s happening here at the Hatchery.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Figure 4. A fish transportation vehicle from New Mexico Game and Fish relieves Mora NFH of some broodstock during the shutdown (Credit: N. Wiese).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lauren: How are you, your co-workers, and families holding up under the stress?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nathan: \u201cIt is tough.\u00a0 I love what I do, but I’m also a father and a husband.\u00a0 We still have food on the table and a roof over our head that will last for a while, but not forever.\u00a0 I find myself being shorter with my daughters, as much as I say it\u2019s “okay”, it really isn’t. Our team is holding up, but morale is low, and the uncertainty is weighing on everyone.\u00a0 We want to get back to recovering Gila trout for the American people.\u00a0 That’s our mission, we’re proud of it, and we want to work for it.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The American Fisheries Society has urged Congress and the White House to work in a bipartisan manner to end the partial government shutdown and allow natural resource agencies that support important fisheries research and management to resume operations.\u00a0Read more about how government shutdowns impact the fisheries community\u00a0HERE<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The unprecedented duration of the most recent government shutdown has implications for our nation\u2019s natural resources. During the fourth week of the shutdown, I checked in with Nathan Wiese, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[855,9],"tags":[220,339,370,693,808],"class_list":["post-2295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information","category-news","tag-conservation","tag-gila-trout","tag-hatchery","tag-shutdown","tag-usfws"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}