Maryland authorities investigating hatchery valve closure that killed thousands of trout

Maryland Natural Resources Police are investigating the closure of a discharge valve at a state fish hatchery near Hagerstown that resulted in the death of about 25,000 trout being raised for the 2024 season, Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Gregg Bortz said.

Natural Resources Police are asking for the public's help in determining who closed a discharge valve at the Albert Powell Hatchery southeast of the city.

Anyone with information about the incident should call Officer Jeremy Miller at 410-260-8888.

The estimated value of the lost fish is $75,000, Bortz wrote in an email.

Employees arriving for work at the hatchery in the Beaver Creek area on Monday morning found a discharge valve had been shut in one of the artificial water channels where trout are raised, Bortz wrote. Those channels are called raceways and each one "is housed with a regenerative blower capable of supplying adequate dissolved oxygen levels during high density loads," he wrote.

The valve closure cut oxygen to a raceway, causing the death of the trout fingerlings that were hatched in October, Bortz wrote.

The incident happened between 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the last time the raceways were checked, and 7:30 a.m. Monday, Bortz said.

Bortz said the valve assembly and components are below water or recessed within a concrete structure, but the valve handle is accessible. However, he wrote, "it requires some effort and flexibility to shut the valve."

The fish raised at the local hatchery are used mostly to stock waters for recreational fishing in Maryland's central region, east of Allegany County, and some waters in the Western Region, Bortz wrote.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland authorities seek public's help in case of 25K dead trout