Record number of fish released into Utah waterways
Dec 12, 2024, 1:03 PM | Updated: 1:09 pm
Fish being stocked in Utah waterways. (Faith Heaton Jolley/DWR)
(Faith Heaton Jolley/DWR)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Division of Wildlife Resources has some news you can sink your hook into. State wildlife officials put a record number of fish into Utah’s waterways this year.
However, two million of the almost 13 million fish will be too small to catch for about two years because they are just larvae are counted in the total.
DWR Aquatics’ Craig Schaugaard said the baby walleye and wipers were planted into Willard Bay, but there will be a high attrition rate.
“Maybe only about 5% of those are going to turn into adults,” Schaugaard said.
According to a DWR press release, 722 bodies of water in the Beehive State received 12,831,218 fish this year.
Schaugraard said the methods for stocking the fish have changed, such as adjusting schedules of certain species to minimize the impacts of warmer water.
The state’s 13 hatcheries are vital to the sport fish industry and without them, there wouldn’t be enough natural reproduction.
Other fish, like trout, Kokanee salmon and bass are ready for anglers to hook.
Tammy Kikuchi is a reporter and anchor for KSL NewsRadio.
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