Rainbow trout at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Jim Hinkle Spring River State Fish Hatchery have tested positive for infectious pancreatic necrosis, a virus that can be fatal to fingerling trout. IPN is not transmittable to humans and presents no risk to anglers who handle or eat trout. An annual fish health inspection at the hatchery recently revealed the presence of the virus. Biologists will gather fish samples from the state’s tailwaters to determine the presence or absence of IPN in the wild. The AGFC plans to postpone or reduce trout stockings from the Spring River hatchery until the extent of the infection can be determined. Testing for the virus in the state’s coldwater fisheries will take about a month.
Arkansas’s two national trout hatcheries – on the North Fork and Little Red rivers – provide more than 940,000 fingerling rainbow trout annually for the Spring River hatchery. The national hatcheries also directly stock 1.1 million fish annually in Arkansas waters and will continue to provide trout for the state’s coldwater fisheries.
IPN occurs in trout and other members of the Salmonidae family. Most fish carry the virus without incident, although it can be fatal to young trout. It is passed from parents to offspring, and from fish to fish through contact.
The Spring River hatchery produces more than 1 million 11-inch rainbow trout annually. Fish from the hatchery are distributed in the Bull Shoals Lake and Greers Ferry Lake tailwaters, Spring River, Blanchard Springs, and southern Arkansas trout waters, as well as the Family and Community Fishing Program’s seasonal trout ponds. Article courtesy of Southern Trout Magazine.