Stocking will resume in North Carolina’s hatchery-supported trout waters now that testing for whirling disease in fish raised at Marion and Brevard fish hatcheries has come back negative. 

Stocking had halted after the disease was confirmed in rainbow trout collected from the Watauga River near Foscoe in late July — the first occurrence of whirling disease in North Carolina. Caused by a parasite, whirling disease is often fatal to juvenile fish and can severely impact adult fish’s chance of competitive success in the environment, but it does not affect people or pets. 

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will resume stocking but will not retroactively stock locations that did not receive fish during the testing period, due to drought conditions and concerns of high water temperature there.  

Biologists will continue to test waters in the Watauga River basin to determine the extent of the disease’s spread, with results expected within two weeks. 

Report observations of fish with deformities or strange swimming behaviors, as well as fish with rice-like gill lice attached to their gills, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..