MAN — The fish hatchery at Man is closing its doors this weekend an official at the company said today.

Jim Franklin, a manager with the West Virginia Salmon and Trout company, said in a phone interview today that the fish hatchery will close this weekend and all 10 employees have been notified that they will be laid off.

“We are closing the operations right now,” Franklin said. “We’re not able to make any money out of at this present time.”

The company had been producing rainbow trout. The previous company, West Virginia Aquaculture, had been raising Arctic Char at the facility and in Mingo County at Thacker Hollow at the foot of Horsepen Mountain.

The West Virginia Salmon and Trout company bought the facilities nearly two years ago, Franklin said.

“We took over about a year and a half ago. (The closure) is due more to production costs than a sales issue right now. The employees will be laid off. It’s very unfortunate.”

The West Virginia Salmon and Trout company is based out of Virginia, Franklin said. The Virginia operations will not close, Franklin added.

The closure will take place this weekend, Franklin said.

“Different species of fish have different growth rates and different feeds and so forth that it takes to produce them and the trout is a little bit more expensive,” Franklin said.

“We’re hoping someone will purchase the facilities and start it back up again. It’s very sad to see. We have a lot of really good, dedicated employees and we’ve been real pleased with the work they have done and we hate to see the facility close down.”

Franklin said the company went from producing arctic char to rainbow trout because the arctic char wasn’t selling as well.

“The arctic char weren’t performing well and there wasn’t a developed market,” Franklin said.

The arctic char had been grown in mine water by the previous company. West Virginia Aquaculture took over the company in 2001.

The growth facility opened in Mingo County in the late 1990s and was initially built using millions of dollars in state grants and used the mine water in which to grow the arctic char. The mine water was reportedly the right temperature in which to grow the fish.

The facility in Mingo County grew the fish from eggs to infancy, then they were transported to the Man grow-out operation and were sold from there.

Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll said he plans to talk with the company to see if they can find a buyer for the operation at Man.

“Hopefully, the concept of growing fish in West Virginia will survive,” Kirkendoll said. “They say the water here is great and hopefully we can have someone else come in and do what they were doing.

“With the facilities already in place, maybe we can try to fix this. I’m going to be talking to the company to see if they have any potential buyers.”