ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602200004
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
No one really was surprised when it happened.
The state's hatchery for striped bass sits on the lip of the Roanoke River at Brookneal, in the flood plain, and it was just a matter of time before the river would grow unruly and deal it a crippling blow.
Steve Arthur, the hatchery manager for 23 years, had seen floods come and go. Water would roar in one door of the hatchery and out the other. When it was gone, Arthur and his crew would shovel the mud and go about their business, while their bosses talked about the need to move the building to higher ground.
But the late-June flood was different.
The river came up fast and with ferocity. It shoved the hatchery building off of its foundation and buckled the wood-and-tin sides. Large Fiberglas spawning tanks inside bobbed about like giant corks, ripping apart their plumbing.
The water inundated a bottomland full of rearing ponds, sweeping away 700,000 fingerling stripers a few days before they were scheduled to be harvested. The lost fish included the 300,000 scheduled to be stocked in Smith Mountain Lake.
Eight months later - and only two months before a new spawning season - the hatchery building remains in ruin, condemned and unsafe to enter.
Fishermen are beginning to ask questions: Why hasn't it been repaired or rebuilt? Will there be fish for stocking in Smith Mountain Lake and elsewhere?
Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, has attempted to get funds appropriated for the hatchery in the General Assembly, but even if he is successful during this session, the money won't come in time to put things in shape for the upcoming spawning season.
Officials of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries say they have an alternate plan in place. The North Carolina Department of Wildlife Resources has agreed to provide striped bass fry from its hatchery on the Dan River. The ponds at Brookneal will be repaired in time to grow the fry to fingerling size.
``From the fry-taking point on, it will be like any other year for us,'' said Mike Duval, a Virginia fisheries biologist supervisor.
Well, hopefully, not like last year. The ponds always will be vulnerable to major floods, but officials say last year was the first in more than 20 when they were unable to recover from high water.
Just in case, alternate pond space has been reserved at a federal hatchery in North Carolina, Duval said. It was federal and state fish officials in North Carolina who provided fingerlings for stocking in Smith Mountain Lake following the June flood. The lake received 230,000 of a targeted 300,000 fingerlings.
``We were fortunate to come up with that many,'' Duval said. Claytor Lake, Lake Anna and several smaller impoundments had been stocked before the flood.
The question now is whether to repair or rebuild the hatchery building in its current location or move it to nearby high ground.
``I don't believe the department is going to build it in the flood plain, as far as the building goes,'' said Ron Southwick, assistant chief of the fish division.
The estimated cost of relocating the building is $1.5 million.
One thing that has slowed the process - in addition to the lack of funding - is the fact the game and fish department had hired a consulting firm to study all its hatcheries before the Brookneal flood. That study has not been completed.
``We wanted to wait on the hatchery study,'' Duval said. ``So many things were in progress it just seemed best to wait and see how things fall out, particularly since we had the willingness from North Carolina to help us meet our production needs this year.''
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB