U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Mammoth National Fish Hatchery

Photos (top to bottom) ■ Develop advanced propagation and Hatchery entrance sign. rearing techniques for paddlefish and lake sturgeon. Outdoor educational presentation to group of pre-schoolers. ■ Develop spawning and rearing techniques for the endangered Fish stocking. pallid sturgeon, ozark hellbender Working with mussels. salamander, alligator snapping turtle. photo: USFWS photo: Hatchery Facts ■ Established: 1903. (32 Statute ■ Produce walleye, smallmouth bass 1107). and rainbow trout for restoration stocking in the White River Basin ■ The hatchery is one of the oldest, impacted by flooding of spawning built in the Ozark foothills in habitat due to Federal water northeast due to the development projects (dams) on the availability of cool gravity flow White River and tributaries. water from the world’s seventh largest spring and easy access to ■ In cooperation with Arkansas State the railroad. University, assist in nationwide photo: USFWS photo: efforts to protect and restore both ■ Current programs involve the endangered and non-endangered restoration of interjurisdictional mussel populations by developing fishes (paddlefish and sturgeon); culture techniques, conducting recovery of endangered and life history investigations, and threatened species including providing a refuge for imperiled freshwater mussels; restoration mussel populations. of Gulf Coast Striped Bass populations; restoration of walleye, ■ Provide fish for recreational fishing smallmouth bass and rainbow trout programs on national wildlife in the White River drainage; and refuges. photo: USFWS photo: fishery management and stocking ■ Conduct an educational outreach recreational fish on national wildlife program that promotes the Service refuges. mission and furthers national ■ Physical plant includes: 36 acres, conservation efforts. 15 production ponds, eight concrete ■ Average production: raceways, hatching/rearing building, 3,600 gallon public 2 million Gulf Coast striped bass aquarium, administrative offices 40,000 paddlefish and maintenance buildings. 2,500 sturgeon ■ Due to the reliable high quality 400,000 walleye gravity flow water supply and a 100,000 smallmouth bass unique pond and raceway rearing system, the hatchery has the 5,000 freshwater mussels

photo: USFWS photo: capability to produce a wide variety Approximately 100,000 largemouth bass and/or bluegill as needed for Richard Shelton, Hatchery Manager of fish and other aquatic species. national wildlife refuge programs. Mammoth Spring ■ The hatchery maintains the only National Fish Hatchery captive spawning population of Gulf Public Use Opportunities P.O. Box 160 Coast striped bass in the world. ■ Located on a major route between 302 Fish Hatchery Lane several large cities and some of Mammoth Spring, AR 72554 Hatchery Objectives the nation’s most popular vacation Phone: 870/625 3912 ■ Help restore depleted populations of destinations, Mammoth Spring has Fax: 870/625 3904 Gulf Coast striped bass. seen visitation rise to over 90,000 E-mail: [email protected] per year. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

■ The hatchery operates an award Where and how do you hatch the fish? winning 3,600-gallon, 10-tank public In a pond-fish hatchery like Mammoth aquarium highlighting both native Spring, adult broodfish such as bass fish and reptiles, as well as species and bluegill are allowed to spawn raised on the hatchery. naturally in specially prepared ponds. Other fish, such as striped bass, are ■ The hatchery has several exhibits spawned in tanks after being given explaining the Service mission and a hormone and the eggs are then hatchery activities, and the public transferred to incubator jars. After can view the day-to-day operations hatching, the fry are collected using a of the hatchery. small seine and transferred to rearing ■ Special activities are held during ponds or raceways for growout. National Fishing Week, Earth Day, The rearing ponds are fertilized and during several local festivals to encourage the growth of tiny throughout the year. microorgansims called zooplankton ■ Over 100 group tours and on which the young fry feed until they environmental education activities reach fingerling size of about one to are scheduled throughout the year three inches. The fish may be stocked serving schools, colleges, and other at this point or held for rearing to a groups in Arkansas, , and larger size. Some of the larger fish are surrounding states. fed specially prepared diets made on station and supplemented with forage Statistics fish such as minnows or goldfish. ■ Five-person staff. Eggs of other fish such as walleye and ■ 5-10 volunteers and summer paddlefish are collected from adult employees. fish netted in the wild (which are then released) and brought back to the Questions and Answers hatchery for hatching and rearing. Why do we need federal hatcheries The hatching of most species occurs in and who pays for them? the early spring. This is a national fish hatchery which is supported by tax dollars. Fish raised on Federal hatcheries are stocked in public waters to support Federal fishery responsibilities mandated by law. These include fish for restoration where, for example, man-made dams have altered a stream’s natural reproductive capability; or to restore threatened or endangered populations. Fish are also used to support recreational fishing programs in Federal and state waters.

Where does the hatchery get its water? The heart of any hatchery is its water supply. This hatchery is blessed with unusually excellent water supplied by the world’s seventh largest spring. Water from the spring is a constant 58 degrees with a naturally high dissolved oxygen content and a pH of about 7, making it ideal for fish culture. The hatchery uses only a small fraction of the spring’s flow, eventually returning the water to .