Pa.'s fascinating, surprisingly controversial trout supply

A rural Pa. county with a small population was at one point the divorce capital of the state, "and by some standards, the world." What's the county?

Every year a monumental feat of natural resource engineering takes place across Pennsylvania, unnoticed by many — well, many non-anglers, at least.

Millions of trout that have been raised in state-run hatcheries (like this one) are loaded into trucks, taken to roughly 1,000 designated waters, and turned loose en masse.

It’s a ritual in preparation for another: the start of trout season, which this year falls on Saturday and will inevitably draw throngs of rod-and-reel-toters to muddy embankments statewide. 

There are so many trout fed into streams and lakes by the state — and so few there organically, by comparison — that if you catch one it’s almost certainly been planted by the Fish and Boat Commission, spokesperson Mike Parker said. 

And that’s where things get slightly complicated and incredibly symbiotic. 

Trout like it cold, and the wild population’s natural range is already limited here. Without the state pushing tons of fish into waters each year, opportunities to catch them would be considerably narrower and demand for fishing licenses and permits — a primary, almost exclusive source of funding for the state's 14-hatchery network — would likely wane. 

This came to a head in 2018 with state lawmakers threatening to oust then-director of the Fish and Boat Commission John Arway over a proposed fishing license fee hike that he said was needed to sustain the state's hatchery program. Arway retired months later. 

The financial tension has since dissipated some: a reserve fund is being spent down and the pandemic saw a sizable increase in fishing license applications. Boating revenue is also up, Parker added.  

There is other tension, though, including a warning that hatchery-raised trout threaten to overwhelm the already stressed wild brook trout, Pennsylvania’s only native species. (Supporters of stocking hand-raised fish say doing so can help protect the natives from overfishing.)

Parker said the commission is aware of the concern and studying the issue, adding, “as an agency we’re dedicated to the conservation of wild trout, but part of our mission is also to provide recreational fishing opportunities.”  

Beyond the obvious differences, aqua-farmed trout, like those raised in hatcheries, are considered less wily and evasive than their wild cousins. (A retired fisheries biologist named Ray White compared it to “turning barnyard chickens loose in the forest.”) 

But your average recreational fisher is unlikely to care, and without Pennsylvania’s stocked trout, they’re less likely to land one at all. To a degree, the pastime — or least its accessibility — is at stake, Parker suggests, adding of the hatchery program, “Trout fishing would not look the same without it.”

—Colin Deppen, Spotlight PA

Tell us about a Pennsylvania business or service that deserves a turn in the spotlight and we'll share your suggestion here.

This week's shoutout is from reader Anne G. and it's for the Garden Cafe of Pittsburgh's North Side. Anne says the cafe livens an already bustling corner and sits on a street notable for its ancient trolley tracks: 

"Besides serving excellent, locally roasted coffee and local eats — every morning this intersection hosts the neighborhood fire station, access to three other neighborhoods, and the school crossing guard ... the Garden Cafe transforms this important intersection into a destination."

» One thing worth knowing: It's been 43 years since the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, the nation's worst. In 2019, WITF gave everyone an idea of what it might have been like if Twitter existed in 1979. 

» One deep-dive worth reading: How the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania turned on a star student, via the New Yorker.

» One story worth following: Treasure hunters who believe the FBI made off with tons of Civil War gold in Elk County are now asking whether evidence related to the search has been destroyed, via CBS News.

» One thing that stopped us mid-scroll: A $167-a-night, "WAP"-inspired Philadelphia Airbnb called The Hottie House.

» One place worth seeing: Pittsburgh Magazine has a look inside Squirrel Hill's "Mushroom House," down to the eagle-shaped newel posts.