Help Us Save the Kensington Hatchery
SUPPORT THE KENSINGTON HATCHERY NOW!
Take action this weekend before Wednesday April 1 to support reinstatement of the state budget line $195,000 item for Kensington Hatchery. We learned yesterday that the Appropriations Committee will take a final vote next Wednesday April 1.
The Governor’s budget cuts the funding for the Kensington Hatchery. This is the only facility where Atlantic salmon and Seeforellen Brown Trout can be raised. They are the two species needed for the Salmon-in-Schools and the Trout in the Classroom programs. This involves 15,000 students in 170 schools in our state.
The power to reinstate the Kensington Hatchery budget item lies with the Conservation and Development Appropriations Subcommittee. Their vote on April 1 will be part of the total budget going to the General Assembly.
Here is a sample letter: SAMPLE CRSA LETTER TO SAVE KENSINGTON HATCHERY you can send to your representative and a list: AppropriationsSubcomitteeEmail on the committee. Send your message to any and all of them!
Next, send the same message to your own legislator from your town or district.
We are certain from past experience that your messages have an important effect on the budget process.
Support your national award winning Salmon-in-Schools Program now.
Helpful information from Alicia Charamut:
Contacting via Email
• In the Subject Line: Reinstate Funding for the Kensington Hatchery.
• It is best in this case to include your message in the body of the email as opening attachments can be tedious when receiving large volumes of mail.
• Clearly include your name and where you live at the start of the body of the email
• Copy and paste from the sample letter if you wish or formulate your own language. Helpful information is provided below.
Contacting them via phone
• When the aid answers (or voice mail), identify yourself by providing your name and address and let her/him know you are a constituent.
• Tell them you want them to help ensure that the $195,000 needed to run the Kensington Hatchery is reinstated to the budget
• Tell them why it is important to you.
Write them a letter
• Be sure to provide your name and address
• Identify yourself as a constituent
• Use the sample letter provided if you wish or formulate your own message. Helpful information is provided below.
• Remember that if you are mailing the letter is must be mailed ASAP to be received by April 1st!!!
• Address the letter to: The Senator/Rep’s Name
Legislative Office Building Room XXXX (Use the appropriate room # listed)
Hartford, CT 06106 – 1591
Helpful Information for Messaging
In regard to Educational Programs
• Eggs from Kensington are donated to “Trout in the Classroom” operated by Trout Unlimited and “Salmon in the Schools” run by Connecticut River Salmon Association.
• The two school programs reach approximately 15,000 students per year in 170 schools throughout the state
• The programs provide students with a unique educational opportunity and a first-hand look at the growth and development of these two species from eyed eggs to juvenile fish during the January to June program cycle.
• These school programs, carried out with the help of volunteers, are a cost-effective way of raising environmental awareness in Connecticut’s youth as well as a unique and accessible way to teach science and math.
• The state’s other two hatcheries — Quinebaug and Burlington — are at full capacity and cannot take on the production of trout and salmon eggs that could be used in the school programs. And in the case of Salmon eggs, neither hatchery is equipped to do so.
In regard to recreational fishing:
• If you voted for the legislator to which you are writing, it is a good idea to let them know.
• Kensington is the State’s smallest hatchery, but it is unique in that it supports both the last Connecticut River genetic strain of Atlantic Salmon, and a unique strain of large Seeforellen Brown Trout.
• The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at UConn projects that or every $1 spent on natural resources, $38 in economic activity is generated. In short, viewed correctly, Kensington is a profit center for the State, which generates more revenue than the operating expenses OPM is proposing to save by closing the hatchery.
• License fees and excise taxes on the purchase of fishing equipment generates $7.3 million in revenue to State coffers combined.
• In 2013, more than 1.2 million state-raised fish (trout, salmon) were stocked in Connecticut’s waters.
• Anglers went fishing in Connecticut a total of 4.4 million days, with an average of 14 days per angler. Total fishing-related expenditures in Connecticut amounted to more than $436 million in 2011, according to federal estimates. That covered everything from sales of fishing poles and boats to hotel and motel charges for the estimated 65,000 out-of-state anglers who came to try their luck in Connecticut waters.
• Recreational fishing supports over 4,400 jobs in CT
• The state’s other two hatcheries — Quinebaug and Burlington — are at full capacity and cannot take on the continued propagation of the legacy strain of Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon, the Seeforellens.