AUGUSTA – If Maine wants to maintain its status as a game-fishing vacation destination, it needs to more than triple production at its hatcheries, a state commission has concluded in an interim report.

The hatchery-study commission, created two years ago by the Legislature, concluded the state’s recreation fishing is not meeting anglers’ expectations due to inadequate production at its nine hatcheries, where thousands of pounds of game fish are produced annually for stocking in ponds and streams.

The commission has recommended, pending cost estimates, that the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife should increase its overall production from nearly 260,000 pounds to 865,748 pounds of fish per year during the course of the next 10 to 15 years.

It also recommended that because “anglers strongly desire the opportunity to fish in waters that contain trophy-size fish,” DIF&W should develop a trophy-fish stocking program. The commission estimated the bigger fish should account for 188,360 pounds of the new fish stocked.

The commission also concluded that the Deblois fish hatchery in Washington County was not economically viable, and should be sold to help finance improvements in other hatcheries.

The Commission to Study the Needs and Opportunities Associated with the Production of Salmonid Sport Fish in Maine has hired Fishpro Inc., an Illinois engineering consulting firm, to assess state hatcheries and provide cost estimates for increasing production. Salmonids include trout and landlocked salmon

On Wednesday, Tom Johnson of Fishpro gave the commission its first taste of what it would cost to upgrade its 50-year-old hatchery system. He said preliminary figures showed an overhaul of the Embden hatchery on the Kennebec River would cost $7.5 million.

DIF&W also has hatcheries in Augusta, Casco, Gray, Enfield, Grand Lake Stream, New Gloucester, Palermo and Phillips.

Johnson said other states have committed $30 million to $40 million over a 20-year period to improve their fish hatcheries. Fishpro has helped 20 states revamp their hatchery systems, Johnson said.

“In Michigan, they enhanced four of the six hatcheries there with a bond bill enacted by the governor for $18.6 million three years ago,” said Johnson. He quickly cautioned this example might not apply to Maine.

Johnson said here the options may include upgrading all nine hatcheries, building new hatcheries, or purchasing fish from privately owned hatcheries, whatever is most cost-effective.

DIF&W Deputy Commissioner Fred Hurley said after a similar bond issue failed here because lawmakers didn’t have cost estimates, the Legislature decided to come up with a plan and a price tag that would help the state’s cause. That’s why the hatchery commission was founded.

“I think the people of Maine are willing to invest in it if they get life out of it,” said Harold Brown, a member of the DIF&W Advisory Council. “Look at this [State House] building. The people of Maine are very proud of it.”

The Legislature directed the hatchery commission to study salmonid fish culture facilities and to set production goals for the number, size, and species mix of recreational sport fish to be stocked in Maine during the next 15 to 20 years.

With DIF&W biologists, the commission determined the primary area for new opportunity was brook trout and brown trout stocked in “put-n-take” fisheries, where legal-sized fish are stocked with the expectation they will be caught in a short time.

The commission also set guidelines for trophy fish where brook trout and splake would weigh 4 pounds or more, rainbow trout would weigh 5 pounds or more, and brown trout, lake trout, and salmon would weigh 6 pounds or more.

Finally, the committee has taken steps to determine the effectiveness of the hatcheries by:

. Monitoring effluent permit limits, which indicate the amount of waste output into the water by the hatcheries.

. Recommending DIF&W test effluent permit limits on all nine fish hatcheries.

. Identifying potential sites for new fish hatcheries in the Washburn area in Aroostook County, near the Saco River and at Rumford Point in Androscoggin County.

The committee will make its final recommendations by Oct. 31 after receiving the final cost estimates from Fishpro.

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.