AUGUSTA – If a $7 million bond for fish hatcheries is approved, the capacity of the Embden State Fish Hatchery will be tripled in an effort to jump-start Maine’s game fishery, members of a hatchery study commission decided Wednesday.

The Kennebec River hatchery produces about 27,000 pounds of fish annually, which are used to stock Moosehead and other lakes in Maine with salmon and trout.

A minimum investment of $6.3 million could increase the hatchery’s annual output to 100,000 pounds of fish, according to a draft report on Maine’s game fisheries presented to commissioners this week.

“Where can we raise the most fish without spending a lot of money? Where can we get the biggest bang for our buck?” asked Commissioner Sonny Pierce as the panel debated its options Wednesday.

Concerned that Maine isn’t adequately developing the game fisheries that draw thousands of sportsmen to the state each year, legislators in 1999 created the 13-member Commission to Study the Needs and Opportunities Associated with the Production of Salmonid Sport Fish in Maine.

The commission set a goal of increasing the pounds of fish produced by 387 percent statewide, and hired Fishpro Inc., a consulting firm based in Illinois, to review the nine state-owned freshwater fish hatcheries and formulate a plan of action.

Besides Embden, hatcheries are located in Augusta, Casco, Gray, Enfield, Grand Lake Stream, New Gloucester, Palermo and Phillips.

Embden was selected Wednesday to be the first hatchery expanded if the bond is approved because it is considered one of the cleanest state-owned operations by Department of Environmental Protection standards.

“Let’s put the emphasis on Embden now and let it become a model,” said Commissioner Harold Brown.

Investments at Embden are only a small portion of a 20-year plan that is being developed to increase the production at Maine’s aging fish hatcheries threefold to nearly 900,000 pounds of fish each year.

The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee is expected to consider the proposed $7 million bond today. If lawmakers approve the bond, then voters will decide the issue at referendum in November.

On Wednesday, Tom Johnson of Fishpro presented his 4-inch-thick draft final report to the hatchery commission. A minimum of $20 million must be spent to bring the facilities at the nine hatcheries up to a “best practice” production standard. If all of Fishpro’s suggested improvements are made at all hatcheries, the cost could escalate to $32 million, according to the report.

But even the highest level of investment doesn’t guarantee that the state will reach its goal of 900,000 pounds of annual fish production, Johnson said.

With only two meetings remaining, the commission has yet to address the production ceilings that fish hatcheries face as a result of DEP regulation of aquaculture facilities.

More fish means increased nutrients in the hatchery’s wastewater, which could cause some sites to exceed the limitations of their licenses, Johnson explained.

Few of the state’s other hatcheries could be expanded at the same level as Embden without spending an “astronomical” amount of money on water treatment, Pierce said.

“[You would be] spending a lot of money without getting any more fish,” he said.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife may be able to negotiate new license agreements with the DEP for some hatcheries, Johnson said.

Commissioners are hesitant to begin a lengthy relicensing procedure, however, and asked Johnson for data that would relate the financial investment at each hatchery to the increased amount of fish that each could produce under current DEP licenses.

“I see the DEP as a moving target,” said Sen. Chandler Woodcock, R-Farmington, who is on the commission. “I’d just like to move forward.”

If 900,000 pounds of fish cannot be produced at existing hatcheries, commissioners may recommend the construction of one or more new hatcheries, at a cost of between $13 million and $17 million each. Potential sites for new hatcheries have been identified near Washburn, Rumford and Poland, Johnson said.

The commission must complete its long-term plan for Maine’s hatcheries by October.