FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — About 80,000 pounds of rainbow trout had to be rescued from the San Joaquin Hatchery and moved to cooler waters in Shaver Lake as a result of the ongoing drought.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan tells the Fresno Bee that temperatures in Millerton Lake had reached nearly 70 degrees, threatening the trout’s survival at the hatchery below Friant Dam.
The first round of trout was shipped by water tanks to Shaver Lake Wednesday. Another 50,000 pounds of trout will be moved to surrounding lakes in Fresno and Madera counties.
The removal marks the first evacuation of fish from the San Joaquin Hatchery due to the drought. Other California hatcheries have gone through the process two years in a row.
