Hagerman Fish Hatchery is currently receiving a facelift. Construction crews broke ground in early October on a large infrastructure improvement project at the facility that is scheduled to be completed by February 2018. A permanent roof and predator exclusion structure is being installed over a portion of the Tucker Springs large raceways.
The Tucker Springs raceways are supplied with pathogen-free spring water, but are located adjacent to raceways supplied with water from Riley Creek, which has a resident population of fish that carry the IHN (Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis) virus. IHN is an infectious viral disease of salmon and trout that can cause substantial losses to hatchery production and is easily spread by birds and other predators that move between raceways. The structure will greatly improve biosecurity of the Tucker Springs raceways and will lead to improvements in disease prevention, which will allow hatchery staff to produce fish more efficiently and increase the fish hatchery's production potential.
This is one of many projects that are scheduled to be completed at Hagerman over the next two years. Other notable projects include concrete raceway repairs and epoxy coating, securing Tucker Springs with the addition of cobble and a liner and a residence replacement.