An NC WRC photo
The McDowell County Sheriff’s Office has arrested three men for vandalizing Armstrong State Fish Hatchery. The Saturday night incident killed more than 150,000 rainbow trout — a third of the hatchery’s population.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission thanks the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office for the quick arrests, the offers of assistance and trout from state fish and wildlife agencies in Virginia, Tennessee and South Carolina, and to the N.C. Chapter of Trout Unlimited for offering to provide a reward to anyone with information leading to arrests of the alleged perpetrators.
Jack Brown, 21, along with 20-year-olds Gabriel Miller and Adam Mitchell are charged with injury to personal property, alerting water flow to a hatchery or aquatic center and pollution or damage to a hatchery or aquatic center.
Last bit of good news: We’re hearing from our Fisheries Biologists that they have developed a plan to ensure there will be no impacts to scheduled fish stockings as a result of this fish kill. So, this will not affect North Carolina trout anglers.
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