The Hocking College Fish Hatchery is located on the backside of the Lake Snowden dam and operates year-round with a variety of fish species raised for educating our Fish Management and Aquaculture Program students. Students experience raising and spawning several fish species such as bluegill, redear sunfish, green sunfish, tiger bass, common and Japanese koi, channel catfish, blue tilapia, and white tilapia and paddlefish. Our facility has nine ponds, each ranging from 1/3 acre to 2/3 acre in size; we also have over 10,000 gallons of water capacity for our raceways in our indoor portion of the hatchery. Students get hands-on experience with these species for the aquaculture courses while at the hatchery while also learning how to manage them in the wild during their fish management courses.
We have a very diverse range of species within our hatchery; students experience the challenges of raising tilapia through the winter months while also learning to raise trout through the hot summer months. Not only do students learn how to raise, spawn, diagnose illness and manage the fish species found in our hatchery, but they will also learn how to identify and manage fish species in the wild that aren't raised in hatcheries. During our courses, students get the chance to sample rivers and streams using electro-fishing gear such as backpack shockers, barge shockers, and the shock boat. They also use hoop nets, gill nets, seines and other methods of fish sampling applied for fish management. This program is a hands-on approach to fish management and aquaculture education that helps our students to achieve their goals as future biologists and aquaculturists.