Didymo Infestation Leads to the Death of 434,000 Lake Trout

It all started back in August, 2011 when Hurricane Irene trashed the White River National Fish Hatchery in Bethel, Vermont. 

Not only did the hatchery sustain damage and lose thousands of fish including Atlantic salmon, lake trout and native brook trout, but the flood waters injected didymo, aka rock snot, into the hatchery. 

Efforts are under way to disinfect and reopen the facility but in the meantime 434,000 lake trout became homeless. 

These fish were slated for stocking in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie but wildlife managers cancelled that fearing introducing the invasive didymo into the Great Lakes. Second thought was to stock them in already contaminated waters, but in the end no one wanted them and the decision to kill the fish was made. 

The fish were taken from their tanks and dumped into deep pits, covered with lime and buried.  A huge waste of fish as I see it.  Didymo is a diatom that has colonized many waterways with its fibrous coating but it's not poisonous.  Why couldn't these fish be either sold to a commercial wholesaler or donated to shelters and food banks?  I'd like to believe there's a good reason they weren't.  Emphasis on the "I'd like to..."

Take a minute and email your congressman and ask why.  Here the link to make it easy: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml