SPEC releasing thousands of seatrout fingerlings in bay

SAINT LOUIS BAY — The Seatrout Population Enhancement Cooperative (SPEC), a partnership of the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL), Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) and Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) of Mississippi since 2005, is releasing thousands of spotted seatrout fingerlings into the waters of Saint Louis Bay this week. Yesterday’s release was at the Merlin Necaise Boat Launch on the Wolf River, and tomorrow’s release will be at the Cedar Point Boat Launch, Bay St. Louis.

Prior to this release, the fingerlings are tagged at a grow-out facility belonging to Aqua Green, LLC, an aquaculture firm in Perkinston. The trout were transferred to the Stone county site when they were roughly a month old and were able to be weaned off of live feed.

These fish were produced at GCRL’s Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center located at its Cedar Point site in Ocean Springs. To date, a total of about 500,000 fingerlings have been released into Davis Bayou and Bay St. Louis.

Tomorrow’s release is scheduled for 4 p.m.