- A Mantua hatchery first constructed 115 years ago has a new life due to efforts by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
- The hatchery is responsible for about 30% of the trout population in Utah and raises a variety of rainbows.
- The rainbow trout first came to Utah from the West Coast over 100 years ago because it is pretty and pretty easy to catch.
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The Mantua Fish Hatchery was first constructed in 1910 by the Maple Creek Trout and Resort for fish production in Utah. The Division of Wildlife Resources purchased the hatchery in 1970, when some of the real work at rehabilitation began and in 1975, it built a recirculating aquaculture system to raise native Bear Lake cutthroat trout.
However, due to the cold water temperatures in the area, the hatchery was better suited for trout egg production, rather than raising and growing fish.
The Mantua Fish Hatchery encountered some challenges because of those water temperatures.
Jared Smith, hatchery manager, said rainbow trout like water temperatures at between 54 and 60 degrees. The water temperature at Mantua is 47 degrees.
So in 2014, some updates were made to focus the hatchery on egg production. A decade later, additional updates were needed due to failing equipment and other outdated facilities.
The improvements are important because Utah is a treasure trove for anglers, with many lakes and water bodies extolled for their prime and easily accessible fishing habitat. The division offered a tour this week of the hatchery.
According to the division, a whopping 12,831,218 fish — totaling a combined 1,238,903 pounds — were stocked into 722 Utah water bodies in 2024. That was an increase from the 10.6 million that the DWR stocked in 2023.
Smith said the hatchery grows fall spawn rainbow, spring spawn rainbow and Bonneville cutthroat.
“Rainbow trout are a West Coast fish that we brought to Utah, like over 100 years ago. They’re super easy to catch. They’re really pretty, and that’s why fishermen like them, and that’s why we have them in the state,” Smith said.
The fall spawn rainbow are grown over the winter and then stocked in the spring in Utah waterways. The spring spawn trout, in contrast, mature during the summer and then are stocked in the fall, Smith said.
The division says the practice of stocking fish in the Beehive State goes back more than 150 years, as fish were first formally stocked in Utah in 1871. At that time, fish were transported from other states by train and were stocked into lakes along the train route. In 1897, Utah opened its first hatcheries and started raising trout locally.
“These original hatcheries were really impounded streams where we put fry that we got from the federal government,” DWR Aquatic Section Assistant Chief Craig Schaugaard said. “We opened our first traditional fish hatchery — where we produced our own eggs and used raceways like we have today — in Murray in 1899.”
There are now 13 facilities across Utah, with construction underway to build a new Loa Fish Hatchery by 2027. The bulk of the fish stocked in 2024 — 11,086,947 fish of the total 12,831,218 fish — came from these division hatcheries. The remaining fish were transported from disease-free certified hatcheries across the U.S.
This new facility at the Mantua hatchery includes:
- Barriers to prevent aquatic invasive species concerns.
- A degassing tower (to remove high concentrations of gases from the groundwater used at the hatchery).
- New egg facilities.
- A new disinfection station for equipment.
- A new truck filling station to stock the brood stock fish.
The facility produces roughly six million trout eggs a year, about 30% of the total trout stocked in Utah. So in 2022, the division began construction on a new building to increase efficiency of the hatchery. Construction was completed in 2024.
A Utah Angler Survey on Blue Ribbon fisheries last year indicates that in 2023, Utah anglers spent an average of $188 per fishing trip, with significant expenditures on gas, convenience stores, and lodging. With an estimated 418,000 licensed resident anglers and a median of 14 trips per year, the total direct expenditure related to angling in Utah was calculated at $1 billion annually. This expenditure supports a total industry output of $2 billion.
