Fort Peck Fish Hatchery

With Montana’s new state-of-the-art fish hatchery operating well below full capacity, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking comment on two funding options that could allow the Fort Peck Multi-Species Fish Hatchery to raise and stock more fish.

The Fort Peck Multi-Species Fish Hatchery, completed in 2006, is one of the newest and most advanced hatcheries in the U.S.

“The Fort Peck Hatchery is a modern aquaculture facility,” said Chris Hunter, FWP’s Fisheries Division chief in Helena. "By any standard, the hatchery has tremendous capacity and is technically sophisticated. Unfortunately, it’s also misunderstood, under funded and under used.”

The hatchery is located southeast of Glasgow on the banks of the Missouri River below Fort Peck Dam on about 100 acres leased from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that designed and built the facility.

In 1999, the Montana Legislature authorized the sale of a $5 warm water stamp to fund Fort Peck Hatchery operations. The stamp, required of anglers who pursue warm water fish like walleye and bass in certain Montana waters, is the only source of income to run the hatchery’s daily operations. Sales bring in about $250,000 a year, which is enough to cover only about half of the hatchery’s annual operations and maintenance costs. Consequently, the hatchery is run well below capacity with the exception of walleye production, which is maximized.

When it created the warm-water stamp, the Montana Legislature also limited the type of fish that could be raised at the hatchery to certain warm water fish and Chinook salmon.

Fish of Fort Peck Reservoir

“There are more than 100 ponds and small lakes in northeastern Montana—and hundreds of children and families—that would benefit from allowing some trout production at the Fort Peck hatchery,” Hunter said. “As it stands today, we’re wasting time, space, energy and thousands of dollars more in gasoline to truck fish from Great Falls and Lewistown that could be reared at Fort Peck. We need to find a way to make it work for everyone.”

Main Floor, Fort Peck Fish Hatchery

Facing another year of operating and maintaining the $22 million facility with stamp-sale funds, FWP officials, local advisory groups, legislators, angling clubs and others worked together over the past year to establish two different funding options that could boost the hatchery’s budget and production potential.

For resident and nonresident anglers, the options include:

• paying an additional $3 for a warm water stamp. This option, however, will not remove restrictions on what may be raised at the hatchery. The new $8 stamp fee would only be paid by anglers who fish for warm water species in certain Montana waters. This option would raise an additional $150,000 annually, for a total of $400,000. The hatchery would continue to run below capacity.
• paying an additional $1-2 for a general fishing license. The option would remove from Montana law the warm water stamp requirement and the restrictions on species raised at the hatchery. Raising warm water fish to meet stocking requests, however, will continue to be the hatchery’s top priority. In addition, an advisory committee would be established to develop requests for fish production at the Fort Peck Multi-Species Fish Hatchery. This option would raise about $400,000 to $600,000 annually. The hatchery could be run at capacity.

The Fort Peck facility can raise more than 20 million walleye fry and 2 million walleye fingerlings each year. Recently, some 27,000 northern pike and 180,000 Chinook salmon were also produced at the hatchery for stocking in Fort Peck, Tiber, Nelson and Fresno reservoirs and in Lake Frances.

Hunter said that once walleyes are stocked, however, the Fort Peck hatchery sits virtually empty for several months. He said the massive hatchery could also produce tiger muskies, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, channel catfish, sauger, and endangered pallid sturgeon. It’s capable of producing rainbow trout and lake trout without disrupting or displacing any warm water fish production.

FWP will take public comment on the options associated with the operation of the Fort Peck Multi-Species Fish Hatchery through April 15. FWP has arranged to take comments through this website. Send email comments using the link in the Comment section below. Send written comments to: Fort Peck Hatchery Funding, Montana FWP, P.O. Box 200701; Helena, MT 59620-0701.

• Fort Peck Multi-Species Fish Hatchery Funding Timeline
• Fort Peck Multi-Species Hatchery Quick Facts

FWP officials, local advisory groups, legislators, angling clubs and others worked together over the past year to establish two funding options to boost the Fort Peck hatchery's budget and production potential. The comment period closed April 30, 2008. Thank you for your interest.