1.2 million fish stocked in Lake Hartwell

Some 780,000 striped bass and 480,000 hybrid bass–a total of about 1.2 million fish–were stocked in Lake Hartwell during the past three weeks by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Some 20,000 striped bass fingerlings were placed into Lake Hartwell June 3 at Green Pond Landing and Event Center in Anderson County as part of an overall DNR stocking program that annually produces between nine and 12 million fish that are released into public waterways.  The striped bass fingerlings stocked into Lake Hartwell are around 1.5 to 2 inches long, and they can be expected to reach a catchable size in two to three years.  All of the striped bass stocked in Hartwell are the Savannah River Strain, which is a genetically distinct strain that originated in the Savannah River drainage. “The products of these hatcheries go into public waters to support sportfishing in South Carolina,” said Dan Rankin, DNR Upstate regional fisheries biologist based in Clemson. “We have species that we are able to provide fishing opportunities for in some areas of the state that would not be available were it not for the hatchery program and the fish that come out of our production facilities. For instance, in addition to stripers, we would have a very limited trout fishery in South Carolina were it not for the hatchery program.” The DNR hatchery program includes five warmwater hatcheries around the state, and a coldwater trout hatchery located near Walhalla in the Upstate. Recreational fishing is a multi-million dollar economic driver for South Carolina. Anglers spend more than $680 million in the Palmetto State annually, according to a national survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/fhw11-sc.pdf. That’s part of an estimated $2 billion total, spent on wildlife-related recreation in South Carolina each year.