Officials have halted stocking fish at Arizona’s largest state-run hatchery because of a bacterial outbreak among its trout.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department announced Friday a temporary ceasing of stockings from Page Springs Hatchery, north of Phoenix in Cornville.
The agency said officials noticed fish deaths in early June. A University of Arizona lab last week identified the pathogen as a naturally occurring bacterium that had not been found in the state before.
The department is working to determine the source.
Officials are warning that it’s possible more than two bodies of water in Arizona were stocked in May and June with fish carrying the bacteria.