Another interesting place to visit in the North Queens area is the McGowan Lake Fish Hatchery. Run by the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries, this facility is open to the public and offers very interesting tours. Here is a description of the facility as supplied by the department:

The McGowan Lake Hatchery came online in the fall of 1987. It's construction has helped to ensure the future of trout fishing in western Nova Scotia, a region with many acid- stressed lakes and streams.

All of the fish raised in the McGowan Lake Hatchery are speckled (brook) trout. Fish are reared from eggs taken at Fraser's Mills Hatchery and released as fall fingerlings or yearlings. About 1 million fish are raised yearly at this site.

The water supply for the hatchery comes from nearby McGowan Lake which has a highly acidic pH level (< 5.0) for much of the year. In order to prevent the high mortality rate of young trout that would be caused by these acidic waters, a unique intake control building was designed and constructed to treat the 22000 litres per minute of water used in hatchery operations. Two intake pipes take water from the surface as well as bottom of the lake. A portion of this water is piped to the hatchery building where it can be mixed to regulate temperatures and acidity for each rearing trough. The water destined for the outside raceways enters a mixing chamber where temperature and oxygen levels are regulated. From here it flows through a liming bed which buffers the naturally acidic water.

Another unique feature of the hatchery is the oxygen generation and injection system. In 1993 this system was installed in order to increase the amount of oxygen in the hatchery water supply. The additional oxygen maintains ideal growing conditions and has tripled the production (in weight) of fish. Three separate system are in use to deliver the oxygen to the hatchery water, two Low Head Oxygenators, A Pressurized Packed Column and a Down Flow Bubble Contact Oxygenator.

While you are in North Queens, the fish hatchery is definitely worth a stop. The Fish Hatchery is open from 9 AM to 5 PM Monday to Friday.