Fishy newcomers find home in Breeds Hole

By Jessica Vaughn / jessica@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 6/5/17

There are some new residents in Magnolia Springs’ waterways, as Wednesday, May 24, saw the release of young fish into Breeds Hole, also known as Cold Hole.

Former mayor of Magnolia Springs …

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Fishy newcomers find home in Breeds Hole

Posted

There are some new residents in Magnolia Springs’ waterways, as Wednesday, May 24, saw the release of young fish into Breeds Hole, also known as Cold Hole.

Former mayor of Magnolia Springs Charles Houser began the process of bringing new fish to the area when he called Marine Resources as a citizen who was looking for a wider variety of fish. Once the request was made for Gulf Striped Bass, Kevin Anson, chief biologist at Marine Resources, called it in to the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, who began raising the fish for the town. No more was heard on the project until the fish were ready, at which point the Marion State Fish Hatchery called Magnolia Springs’ mayor Bob Holk to set up a date and time for the fish to be transported to their new home.

Allen Nicholls, the assistant hatchery supervisor at the Marion Hatchery, met Mayor Holk in the late morning to deliver the fish to Breeds Hole. He began by placing buckets of water from Breeds Hole into the fishes’ tank and gave them time to adjust to the temperature before relocating them to the open water.

“These guys are all the broodstock,” Nicholls said. “They’re all Gulf Striped Bass. The broodstock came from Smith Lake in North Alabama. That system has never had Atlantic Striped Bass introduced into it. A lot of others in the state have, back before they knew there was any difference in them. But that one only has the Gulf strain.”

The fish are genetically tested at the hatchery, where they take fin clips off the brood fish every year and send them to the US Fish and Wildlife Service to be checked.

“Each batch is one female crossed with three different males,” Nicholls said. “We try to pick a small male, a medium male, and a big male, for genetic diversity reasons.”

Two separate batches of Gulf Striped Bass were delivered to Magnolia Springs, both of different sizes. One of the batches did not have a good pond return, Nicholls said, but the fish from that batch were large nonetheless.

“They’re a good bit over a gram. Usually about anywhere from 1,000 to 500 to the pound is what we’re shooting for,” Nicholls said. “We try to not get them out if they’re smaller than 1,000 to a pound, because they’re very tiny then.”

Mayor Holk stated that he had at least one concerned citizen who did not like the idea of integrating the new fish into the waters as they feared that the Gulf Striped Bass might take some of the native species out, but Nicholls stated that it should not be an issue.

“The biologists have done a lot of diet studies on them. They tend to like shad a lot, but I don’t know what else larval fish wise that they would compete with. They stay offshore mostly, they don’t act like bass or blue gill. They’ll eat minnows, like golden shiners, and they’ll eat crawfish and crabs if they have to.”

The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries stock approximately 750,000 stripers throughout the state a year. They raise an estimated 2.8 million a year, and normally get back a return anywhere from 40 through 50 percent. They also do trades with other states and agencies, and if they’re contacted by someone who is looking for a particular breed, they’ll organize a trade to help each other. While the main base operates out of Montgomery, there are hatcheries and research facilities scattered across the state, with the closest research facility in the county being located at Five Rivers Delta.

On Wednesday, 5,560 Gulf Striped Bass were brought to Magnolia Springs, give or take. The hatchery does all of their measurements by weight so the numbers could be higher or lower, but approximately 5,000 fish were put into the water.

The hatchery grows and breeds fish for multiple locations, and when they get a call from someone who is looking for a new breed of fish, they work with the biologists to determine what breed will work to relocate to a new home. The entire process is free and they do not charge for their services, including the delivery of the fish.

Nicholls stated that it will take around one year for the Gulf Striped Bass to grow to a larger size, but even now the tiny newcomers are visible darting about under the surface. So if anyone is out at Breeds Hole and spots a fish that they haven’t recognized before, chances are they have caught sight of the Gulf Striped Bass in their new home of Magnolia Springs.