Power surge at Lafayette results in loss of over 30,000 trout

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Photo: Lindsay Olivier A power surge last Saturday morning left 30,000 rainbow brook and brown trout dead at the Lafayette Trout Hatchery.

NORTH KINGSTOWN – Early last Saturday morning, Department of Environmental Management (DEM) officials learned that 30,000 rainbow brook and brown trout had died as a result of a power surge at DEM’s Lafayette Trout Hatchery, 424 Hatchery Road, North Kingstown.
DEM believes that an electrical surge occurred which caused two of the three pumps at the hatchery to stop working. The pumps distribute cold water throughout the “outdoor raceways”, bringing oxygen and the correct level of water flow needed for the fish to survive.
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