Questions and Answers
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 River and Toledo Bend Reservoir. The striped bass and paddlefish are raised to restore depleted populations of these species in the Lower Mississippi River basin. The pallid sturgeon are raised because they are an endangered species ranging from the lower Mississippi to the far end of the Missouri River.
Isn't the paddlefish a catfish?
Because of their smooth skin paddlefish are often mistaken for a species of catfish. They are nicknamed spoonbilled catfish even though they are not related to any catfish species.
The paddlefish we have in North America has only one distant relative in far away China. The Chinese paddlefish is smaller in size and a different species. The paddlefish we have grow quickly to 3-4 feet and typically reach several feet in length.
Paddlefish numbers dropped due to poaching for the eggs, which are prized as high quality caviar. Loss of habitat caused by locks and dams and well as general development along waterways has had a negative impact on this fish.
Besides having skin instead of scales, paddlefish feed on plankton and have no teeth. Paddlefish are an ancient fish with a body similar to a shark in shape and a large paddle shaped bill like structure called a rostrum. It is thought the bill is lined with nerve sensors which may help the fish navigate, communicate, and locate food. There is still much for us to learn about this unique fish.
Do you sell fish to private land owners?
Although once a function of the National Fish Hatchery system, "farm pond" stocking is no longer considered a Federal responsibility. The state fisheries and commercial hatcheries provide for private stocking. In addition, enough private aquaculturists began raising farm pond species that free stockings were affecting business. In 1989 the Fish and Wildlife Service officially ended the Farm Pond Program. Now individuals can contact the hatchery office to obtain a listing of local and statewide fish farmers who can provide fish for their farm ponds.
What do sturgeon eat?
The pallid sturgeon prefers extremely turbid waters and strong currents where they feed on insects and small fish. The pallid is listed as an endangered species and faces many of the same problems as the paddlefish (another species raised at Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery)--contaminants from agriculture and industrial runoff and habitat destruction.
