Fish stocking is an old practice, and it is used throughout the world in an effort to restore dwindling fish populations in rivers and streams. It is also used to supply greater numbers of specific kinds of fish to meet personal desires and to respond to growing commercial demand.
In the United States and many other countries, fish stocking is also a way to increase the supply of fish available to native and tribal populations, and to boost the survival probability of endangered fish species in areas where they are threatened.
It is the primary method of supplementing fish populations in the wild and on private lands for the benefit of recreational fishing. State and federal management programs are largely responsible for issuing guidance to fish hatcheries, and for assisting with the distribution of fish populations into the wild. Private stocking ponds are not only the domain of individuals. They are also used extensively by fishery professionals as part of an overall strategy to enhance river, lake and reservoir environments, to provide recreational opportunities for American citizens, and to ensure that there is an adequate supply of species and sizes of fish for the many eco-systems that depend on those natural environments.
What Is a Fish Stocking Pond?
Stocking ponds can be maintained as natural environments, but more often they are constructed to mimic or simulate the natural environment with a little boost from modern technology and science. Habitat requirements vary widely from one location to another and the specifics depend on the type of fish being raised. Depth, surface area and structure are critical components of all fish stocking ponds, and they are the key factors in the reproductive habits, growth and health of the fish.
Maintaining the right ecosystem reduces fish stress, minimizes fish loss and promotes healthy development, so that fishes at all stages of the life cycle will thrive no matter what the ultimate goal may be – whether the stocking pond is intended to provide fish for catching, and/or consuming, or for ultimate transport to another location.
The Importance of Recreational Fishing
According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, well over 50 million Americans participated in some sort of recreational fishing activity in 2019. The 30 million fishing licenses issued by U.S. jurisdictions in 2018 accounted for a gross revenue of $720 million. Fishing in natural rivers and streams has been a destination sport for anglers interested in fresh air, exercise, food and trophy fish for decades, and promises to continue as a favored vacation activity.
According to the American Sportfishing Association, fishing is the second most popular outdoor activity in the country, beat out only by jogging!
Today, privately stocked ponds exist in large numbers and cater to a burgeoning private sportfishing industry. Fishing camps, on private land, sometimes do not have the same restrictions as fishing on public land or in national and state parks. Ponds on farms and family compounds are frequently stocked only for enjoyment or to supply fish for the family table. In addition, there are community ponds. These ponds include those that are stocked for tournaments or special events, “pay to fish” ponds and fish stocking ponds maintained by state and federal agencies, as part of a larger environment such as a river tributary, a lake or dam reservoir.
Fishing Is Big Business; So Is Fish Stocking
The fish stocking story differs from one state to another and sometimes varies in locales within the same state. Minnesota, for instance, spends millions of dollars every year to stock the state’s 11,842 lakes. In 2014, a report by Neil Vanderbosch, a fisheries program consultant for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), noted that upwards of 350 million small fish were introduced into state lakes annually. By 2019, the number had topped 411 million walleye fry and fingerlings.
The state also stocks trout, crappie, bluegill and bass, but because Walleye are known as the “state fish,” and are popular with the state’s anglers, stocking efforts sought to spread the availability of walleye to many of the smaller lakes in the state. Interestingly, DNR data collected over approximately three decades supports the idea that, despite stocking, up to 95% of the walleye snagged by fishermen are naturally produced. The larger, better-known lakes in Minnesota tend to be self-sustaining, and it is the small lakes – approximately 2,000 each year or every few years -- that are regularly stocked.
Data from other states supports the idea that stocking, although widely practiced, is not the primary source of adult or trophy-size fish caught in U.S. public waters.
What Is the Price Tag on Fish Stocking?
In Minnesota, the cost of stocking the state’s lakes with walleye in 2014 amounted to approximately 8 million dollars. Lakes are stocked to repair ecosystems after winter kill or overfishing, but the bulk of the work involves “creating walleye fisheries where they don’t naturally exist,” according to Vanderbosch. Most Minnesotans, who are notorious for their love of fishing, live less than 30 minutes from a walleye lake, he noted. Only 270 of the 1,400 or so walleye fishing lakes are self-sustaining.
In other states, the cost to stock lakes, rivers and streams is comparatively high, but it is deemed to be worth it. Stocking is worthwhile not only to support the fishing industry, but for the revenues that accrue to the states from licenses, park fees and tourism associated with fishing trips.
Brief History of Fish Stocking
Some type of aquaculture is probably as old as the first settled communities, when early peoples developed primitive methods of farming aquatic organisms for human and animal sustenance. Freshwater aquaculture was reportedly known in China by at least 1500 BCE, and Romans cultivated oysters and fish in Mediterranean waters by about 500 BCE. Even before that, other cultures kept crustaceans and sea creatures alive in inland ponds until it was time to eat them. It is entirely possible that aquaculture and mariculture (using seawater) were practiced even earlier in other remote parts of the globe.
Fish stocking ponds are not new in the historical sense. They have, however, become much more sophisticated. Aquaculture, or the growing of fish and aquatic animals as a food source, is a burgeoning agricultural sub-sector throughout the world. Both freshwater fish and salt-water species are routinely farmed and harvested and the economic impact of such pursuits is nowhere near its upper limits.
Stocking freshwater fish in open ponds is not only a growing business today, but it has also become a model for personal enjoyment and for community recreational purposes.
In 1871, when the U.S. Fish Commission was established, the practice of stocking trout in wilderness lakes of the western United States had already begun, with the goal of creating and enhancing sport fishing. That practice continued with little modification, until about the 1960s, according to biologist Edwin Pister, who notes that record-keeping in the early days was lax, and there was little regard for “ecological ramifications.” Today, that has changed. Fish-stocking is conducted with much greater selectivity, and extremely detailed records are kept in an effort to better protect the environment, ensure biological diversity and reduce detrimental effects.
