Written by: Todd P. Berg
Previous articles and social media posts from The Friends of The R.D. Pike Building have outlined the extensive work that the Bayfield hatchery staff have undertaken for more than 125 years to keep a thriving fishery going. The Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior and the deep inland lakes in Wisconsin benefit greatly from this work. These efforts require quite a detailed system, and our goal is to explain some of that dedicated work here.
The process, known in the industry as “fish culturing”, has been, and continues to be, a vital contributor to commercial and recreational fishing success and positive economic and outdoor enjoyment throughout our area.
The Historic journals maintained and kept by the various hatchery personnel at the R.D. Pike Building from 1896 to 1965 have demonstrated repeatedly the depth and breadth of those efforts.
Entries in the journals show that millions of fish were hatched, reared and stocked throughout the past 150 years. Whitefish, Trout, salmon, bass, “herring” (a colloquial local term for fish which are actually Cisco), even grayling, were hatched and cared for through the Bayfield state fish hatchery.
The different species that were raised through the decades are truly amazing and show the dedication of those early pioneers. The logistics of collecting, incubating, hatching and raising these fish is a science in itself. The original Pike family hatching operations were incredible in their scope and necessary ingenuity.
The number one requirement for raising fish, like trout and salmon species, is a stable and steady flow of cold water. Look at this old photograph of the “Pipes” that the early pioneers literally built out of wood for getting water to and from those early rearing ponds. They literally built their own pipes! Simply incredible.
In a previous article, Where There's a Will (and a train) There's a Way!, we delved into the discovery in the historic journals of the fascinating procurement of Brook Trout eggs from the Gilbert Fish Hatchery in Plymouth Massachusetts in 1905. The eggs came by train!
We now know from the journals at the hatchery that fish eggs were collected by boat and also shipped in very often by rail. The inventiveness was remarkable. Today there's another method as well…FedEx!
In the photos shown below, you'll see the arrival of 71,000 eggs by ultra-modern transport! While the wooden crates used in the early 20th century have been replaced with insulated and layered Styrofoam containers, the staging, stacking and handling is very much the same, just much faster!
Click image to view full-screen slideshow.
Once the eggs arrive, they are immediately bathed in an iodine solution to disinfect them from any outside contamination or disease. They are then placed into trays with a constant supply of cold moving water to facilitate their hatching. Think about the progress that we have witnessed, from a 2-week train ride to an overnight next day FedEx delivery. The jumps in transportation and logistics technology are amazing.
In our next article we will explore more of the timing, incubation, hatching, rearing and stocking of these fish that we all enjoy!
Thank you for reading and for your ongoing support as we Reawaken History at the R.D. Pike Building!
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