LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission approved an emergency order Oct. 16 that will temporarily cut back the daily trout possession limit in the state’s four most significant, economically important coldwater fisheries due to reduced production capacity at the Norfork National Fish Hatchery.

A loss of trout in the millions resulting from recent poor water quality at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-operated Norfork hatchery, combined with the early April flood on the Spring River and significant damage to the AGFC’s Jim Hinkle State Fish Hatchery, raised a red flag about whether there would be enough stocked trout available for the four coldwater fisheries in the coming months.

Christy Graham, the AGFC Trout Management Program coordinator, presented the Commission with four options during Wednesday’s committee meetings at the AGFC’s Little Rock headquarters. Rob Finley, Commission vice chairman, said he believed the best approach would be the “more restrictive option” for a 120-day emergency order to allow the Commission to revisit the problem in January and see where trout production was with the hatcheries. The AGFC can issue a second 120-day emergency order if deemed necessary.

The motion quickly moved out of committee and on to Thursday’s unanimous vote. The new regulations are effective immediately.

The proclamation calls for catch-and-release of all trout in the 45 miles of tailwater below Bull Shoals Dam to the White River’s confluence with the North Fork River (specifically to the boat ramp at Norfork Access), as well as catch-and-release only on the entirety of the Norfork Dam tailwater. The trout waters below the White River-North Fork River confluence, from the Norfork Access boat ramp to the Highway 58 bridge at Guion, will have a two-trout-only limit with normal length and daily limits (only one trout over 14 inches). Tackle restrictions for the regular Bull Shoals and Rim Shoals catch-and-release areas on the White and the usual Norfork catch-and-release area still apply (artificial tackle only, and barbless hooks).

Stocking from the Norfork Hatchery also enhances a portion of the total rainbow trout in Greers Ferry Dam’s tailwater (Little Red River). It also provides all stockers for the Beaver Lake Dam tailwater (the Upper White River). Under the order, anglers in those two tailwaters may keep two trout up to 14 inches in length and must release all other caught trout.

“I just stress to the public that this is a temporary thing,” Graham said. “We do not have any intention for this to be a long-term change to the regulations and the fishery. But it would be the protective thing to do right now.”

Finley, of Mountain Home, said of his favoring the more restrictive approach, “For the 120 days, just to put a pause, to make sure we get it right … The biggest risk is the economic impact. Here, you’re going into the slowest season for resorts up there, where November, December, January and into February is typically not what I would consider your high harvest clientele … you don’t see predominantly large families coming in in 28- to 30-degree weather to catch five 12-inch rainbows.”

The AGFC’s Jim Hinkle Hatchery on the Spring River is rebounding from early April flooding but is only operating at 50 percent capacity, a figure not expected to change until at least April, Graham said. She charted the expected loss of stocking at the four trout fisheries based on Norfork losses to this point: “They started out losing 1,000 fish a day and then it was tens of thousands a day,” she said. “We’re going into probably at least the next six months of not knowing the full extent of how many fish they are going to lose. We’re not going to know for a while, but we expect that starting probably in December, they won’t have any fish to stock for the foreseeable future.”

In a normal year, the Norfork hatchery would produce 3 million to nearly 3.5 million trout, she said.

Her quick math on stockings through the next six months showed the White River with a loss well over 50 percent, and if the Trout Management Program didn’t move any fish from other fisheries in the state, “we would have no fish for the Norfork tailwater or Beaver tailwater. This shows the impact of the loss of not having Norfork being able to stock.”

She said there are plans to redistribute fish from other locations in the state, but the details are yet to be worked out, how many and from where to compensate for the losses in those tailwaters. The possibility of the Spring River hatchery getting up to speed could help make up some of the numbers, but “there’s a lot of stuff we have to figure out.”

Though the AGFC could buy some trout in bulk, “finding 300,000 11-inch fish to stock in our tailwaters is almost impossible,” Graham said.

There are also the customers to consider, some who frequent Arkansas’s trout waters regularly and others who find out what a treasure the state possesses. They buy fishing licenses and trout permits, and a good trip brings them back.

Graham said, “As a trout program, what we’re most concerned about is how this severely reduced stocking is going to impact our anglers, most importantly from a catch-rate standpoint. Are they going to be able to go out and continue to have a good experience catching fish?”