It is the second time since 2005 that the trout malady that produces deformations, neurological damage and, eventually, death to trout and salmon has been found at the Springville Hatchery.

After the outbreak in 2005, the state handed out 90,000 pounds of infected trout to the public. Whirling disease is of no harm to humans who eat the infected fish.

There will be no giveaway with the most recent outbreak because the fish are only 4 inches to 5 inches in length. In 2005, the fish were about 10 inches long.

Tim Miles, fish culture supervisor for the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR), said one fish of 120 recently sampled tested positive for DNA evidence of whirling.

"We will take Springville out of production until we can get a new water supply," Miles said.

Once that water is acquired from a deep aquifer under the hatchery, sentinel fish will be used for a year to make sure the source is free of whirling disease.

The 60,000 rainbow trout were being grown to stock the state's urban fisheries along the Wasatch Front next spring. Miles said other hatcheries have reserve fish to make up the difference and that anglers will not notice a difference.

The state runs 10 fish production hatcheries and stocks more than 12 million fish each year.

brettp@sltrib.com