Passport to Texas

Aerial view of Dundee Freshwater Fish Hatchery .

Dundee Fish Hatchery Reopens Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The Dundee Fish Hatchery, Texas’ largest, suspended operations in 2011.

Yep. We had a big hiccup in production due to water supply. It was a very big drought in 2011, so we discontinued production here just because we didn’t have availability to water.

The hatchery produces striped bass, hybrid striped bass and catfish. Inland Fisheries Hatchery Program Manager, Carl Kittel, says the shutdown continued through 2015.

All of our hatcheries operate off water right that can be cut off. So we were without water and didn’t operate. Last spring there was plenty of rain—the water levels in the lakes came up—so we began operations.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series on PBS features the challenges of bringing the Dundee Hatchery back online after a four year hiatus.

Starting up is a bit of a process. Personnel have to be reallocated and then hired and trained to do their job. Equipment has to be started and repaired and all those things take a little bit of gearing up to get going full speed.

Getting it back online benefits freshwater fishing in Texas.

The Dundee hatchery is a big part of the inland fish hatchery program. And we can produce more fish and better support fisheries when this hatchery is operating.

Catch the segment on the hatchery on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series on PBS the week of January 22. The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.