Trout fishing in North Georgia is a very big industry. It generates tourism. It generates jobs and income. It provides an opportunity for people to connect to the beauty of nature, and it assists in developing conservation awareness in our future generations.

Small numbers of native trout live in a few streams in North Georgia. In turn, trout fishing was not popular in North Georgia until the mid 1960’s when Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Lake Burton hatchery and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chattahoochee Forest hatchery developed a partnership to stock streams and tailwaters with hatchery reared trout. This endeavor provided a much-needed boost to North Georgia eco-tourism.

Later, in response to the success of the partnership and increased fishing pressure, the State’s Buford and Summerville hatcheries began stocking trout in north Georgia. These programs helped to create the industry that trout fishing in North Georgia is today.

Currently, these four hatcheries annually stock 1.1 million trout in North Georgia which provide an estimated annual economic impact, according to the American Sportfishing Association, of more than $170 million. This money comes from anglers who purchase a wide variety of goods and services that include food, lodging, gas, and, of course, fishing equipment.

It is very disappointing to learn that the Georgia DNR has proposed the closure of the Lake Burton hatchery as part of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s request to reduce the State’s $1.6 billion deficit. However, when the Georgia DNR determines budget reductions they must strongly consider reductions that do the least damage to the publics they serve.

The closure of the Lake Burton hatchery will impact the trout fishing industry in North Georgia to the point to where it may never recover. The hatchery annually stocks 340,000 trout or 31% of the 1.1 million trout stocked in North Georgia. Based on those numbers, the Lake Burton hatchery has an economic impact in North Georgia of more than $52 million. If this hatchery is closed, the local economy of North Georgia will lose $52 million, and the State of Georgia will lose the tremendous amount of sales tax generated from the products sold in grocery stores, sporting goods stores, cabin rentals, service stations, and other businesses.

According to the Georgia DNR it costs approximately $400,000 annually to operate and maintain the Lake Burton hatchery. Simple economics suggest that the State income taxes and sales taxes collected from the $52 million would easily cover the hatchery’s $400,000 annual cost.

At the same time that Georgia DNR is proposing the closure of the Lake Burton hatchery, it is moving ahead with construction of a $23 million Go Fish Georgia facility near Perry. This facility will include a small warmwater hatchery and visitor center. According to Gov. Perdue, this initiative will make money for Georgia by encouraging tourism and drawing major fishing tournaments into the State.

With a struggling State economy, growing unemployment, and fears of an impending recession, it does not make any fiscal or rational sense for the Georgia DNR to close a proven hatchery program that has been drawing tourism for over 40 years and is currently producing a $52 million economic impact while pursuing an untested and expensive venture. The Governor and the Georgia DNR should make a more balanced decision by considering not only the need for budget reductions, but also the impact of depressing an established fishing tourism in one part of Georgia while building costly new facilities and starting new program initiatives in another part of the state.