Fish Hatchery Says Egg Virus Problem Will Have No Impact
By Mary Anderson

A piece in the Nov. 24, 2007 Boston Globe raised some local concerns by noting that eggs being incubated at the White River National Fish Hatchery in Bethel had possibly been infected with a virus and would be destroyed.

Confirming that certain eggs would be destroyed, Bethel hatchery manager Ken Gillette stated that this would have no real impact on the ongoing work at the hatchery. He explained that the Bethel hatchery, which raises brood stock for Atlantic salmon, has a number of batches of eggs. The destroyed eggs, which arrived from wild salmon via the Cronin station in Sunderland, Mass., had been completely isolated from other brood stock in Bethel.

Gillette went on to note that the Bethel program is very successful in its mission to provide genetic diversity and releases over five million eggs and five million fry into the Connecticut River basin.

"This was the first time in 30 years that a virus like this had been detected," Gillette said, adding that they try to breed the most natural fish for survival. He also mentioned that many of the released fish have transmitters on them for tracking purposes.

The hatchery currently employs seven full-time workers, plus student interns. Visitors are invited to stop by any day between 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

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