What are fish hatcheries?
Federal fish hatcheries have been part of our nation’s conservation and natural resource management efforts for more than 100 years. Hatcheries can be warm water, cool water, or cold water facilities. Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery is a warm water hatchery that spawns, hatches, and raises young fish to a size and age which provides them with the best chance of surviving in the natural wild environment of rivers, lakes and ponds across the southeast part of the country. These fish are raised to help sustain populations in the wild until suitable habitat can be reestablished and the populations can sustain themselves. What kind of fish do you raise? Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery raises six species of fish. We work with striped bass, paddlefish, pallid sturgeon, largemouth bass, bluegill, and channel catfish. The bass, bluegill, and catfish are raised to promote recreational fishing on national wildlife refuges and the many federal waterways in the southeast such as the Red Riv
