Fish Hatchery Gets ARRA Money

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Arlen Specter (D-PA) today announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Department of the Interior has awarded $1.68 million to make infrastructure improvements at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery in Warren. The work will be completed by Wm. T. Spaeder, Co., Inc., of Erie. The funding is being awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“These funds going towards the reopening of the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery are yet another example of the way the Recovery Act is positively impacting Pennsylvania,” said Senator Casey. “Prior to its closure in 2005, Allegheny was the only fish hatchery working to restore the lake trout population in the Lower Great Lakes. By investing in Allegheny’s reopening, we can help them continue their conservation efforts while at the same time creating jobs.”

“I am pleased to see stimulus funds being used to repair and reopen the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery,” Senator Specter said. “This investment to improve the facility’s infrastructure will help ensure the restoration of the lake trout to the Lower Great Lakes and preserve a very important ecological asset to the region.”

The ARRA will provide three-quarters of the funding for the project. The funding will be used to replace the hatchery’s 35-year-old aeration tower, which has a non-functional electric system and severely corroded high pressure water lines, with a new water treatment tower.

Before its closure in 2005 due to a disease outbreak, the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery produced as many as 1.3 million lake trout annually and it was meeting international management goals set by U.S. and Canadian wildlife conservation agencies of 660,000 fish. The hatchery was disinfected and is now considered disease-free. Once operational, up to one million lake trout will be produced annually to meet current fishery management goals for lakes Erie and Ontario.