I had no idea that taxpayer dollars are used to stock public waters in the state of Michigan.  I can only assume that taxpayer dollars are used to stock fish in other states.

The AP is reporting that government officials have informed us that they have stocked Michigan’s “public waters” with over 21 million fish.

Apparently we must fish these waters so much that the fish are unable to reproduce themselves at the rate they are being harvested.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has informed us that they have made 381 trips to approximately 800 different stocking sites on the Great Lakes, inland lakes and rivers here in the state of Michigan.

According to the article:

Ten species were placed in the waters, including rainbow trout, chinook salmon and steelhead. The numbers and types released at each location depended on requests from fisheries managers, hatchery rearing assignments and the source and temperature of each facility’s rearing water.

Apparently Michigan has six state hatcheries and two cooperative hatcheries. As I thought they do produce these fish to ensure survival and success of the replacement of the fish that are harvested.

I guess in the end we certainly do not want to reduce the amount of fish in these “public waters” so much that we endanger our fishing industry.  The industry brings in money for the surrounding communities and we do recoup some if not all the taxpayer dollars with the fishing license fee.

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