Representatives from Mohave County, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified a plan to restore the trout-stocking program at the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery this week. Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar hailed the plan saying that “common sense prevailed.”
“Mohave County can once again rely on the trout-stocking program at the Willow Beach Fish Hatchery to provide economic growth, jobs and recreational fishing for its residents,” said Gosar. “I applaud the hard work and vigilance of the many individuals and groups who spoke out and took action to prevent the termination of this vital program.”
According to the Mohave County office of Development Services “The Willow Beach Fish Hatchery cannot presently maintain continuous water supply and circulation of adequate quantity and quality necessary to rear trout to a minimum size suitable for release in supporting sport fishing recreation, which represents a longstanding recreational activity in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area”.
Gosar’s legislation H.R. 5026, the Protection Act successfully passed out of the Natural Resources Committee on July 30, 2014.
“I am pleased to see the USFWS following through on its promise made to me during a September Natural Resources hearing stating that once repairs were made to the water delivery system at the hatchery, the trout stocking program would resume,” stated Gosar. “The 1,700 jobs and $75 million in economic output for Mohave County generated by this program are too important to be threatened by bureaucratic red tape.”
The proposed solution would include construction of a floating pump-platform assembly at an estimated cost of $776,448, according to Gosar. This proposal is essentially the same solution proposed by Congressman Gosar with support from the Mohave County office of Development Services.