After 53 years sitting silent, a Mecosta County fish hatchery will be raising and stocking fish again.
The DNR and the Mecosta County Parks Commission are coming together to make the Paris Fish Hatchery active again.
It’s an experimental trial.
The hatchery, just outside of Paris on the Muskegon River, has been closed since 1964.
The plan is to open up all five fish pools and have a variety of fish stocked and raised.
As of now, the hatchery has three active pools with rainbow trout stocked that will not be released in to the wild.
The hope is to raise walleye fingerlings to maturity, then release them into local lakes and rivers.
“The facilities are here and we felt like they aren’t being used to their full potential anymore, so we have been exploring a lot of different ways we can bring attention back to the park and to utilize the facilities that are in the park here. So, we are very excited for the opportunity,” says Jeff Able, Mecosta County Parks superintendent.
The DNR is also considering raising sturgeon and Muskie at the hatchery.
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