By Rebecca Harrell // rlh219@txstate.edu
Less than a mile off of Interstate 35 stands an agricultural establishment pivotal to Texas waters and wildlife. Built in 1949, the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery is responsible for spawning, hatching and raising numerous species of freshwater fish to keep up the fishes population in state waters.
The hatchery is one of five freshwater facilities, along with three saltwater hatcheries, responsible for stocking Texas waters. Without these hatcheries, fish populations are unable to maintain a healthy population level. Ecosystems would become unbalanced, and the economic business of game fishing would not exist.
Michael Matthews grew up spending his time outdoors and fishing with his grandfather in Indiana. He became fascinated with the dynamics of the gill and studied the physiology of the formation of fish, leading him to study marine biology in North Carolina and later earn his PhD in fisheries and integrated aquaculture from the University of Florida. Matthews has been committed in the aquaculture business for over 20 years and is currently the manager of the A.E. Woods Fish Hatchery.
“This is a 24-hour-a-day, seven days a week job,” Matthews said.
Matthews is responsible for overseeing the hatchery staff, making sure operations are running smoothly as well as caring for and studying the fish they raise which he compared to caring for children; there are no days off.
“Thanksgiving – I can’t remember the last Thanksgiving I had off,” Matthews said. “I’ll get up and either start deep frying a turkey or smoking a turkey, usually both, and run down here and feed the fish, do water quality, run back up there and check on the turkey.”
The main hatchery building consists mostly of holding troughs and production raceways as well as an incubation room and laboratory where water quality testing is conducted and fish spawn and fry, or newly hatched eggs, are analyzed and treated for diseases and malformations.
First, the male and female fish mate and spawn the eggs. The eggs are held on special spawning mats similar to a thick, layered netting and kept in a production raceway with the male population of the fish. Male bass fish are the keepers of their spawn and continually swim around and rest on the mats to guard their spawn. Once the eggs have developed to a certain stage, the mats are moved to a holding trough where they are vertically hung across the water as they continue to grow. The eggs will begin to fall off of the mat as they hatch into fry in around a week’s time.
The fry grow at an exponential rate as their bodies undergo massive change in a matter of days. They are then moved to the outside ponds where they continue to grow until they are ready to be transported to waters across the state.
Carl Kittel is the regional director over three of the five freshwater hatcheries including A.E. Wood and does administrative work for specific programs, such as rainbow trout and black bass, and procedures across all five.
At the end of each year, Kittel explained the process of how their teams collect data of their stock to find how they can improve aquaculture techniques and what would be beneficial to the needs of Texas waters. He said that each step in the process has a specific purpose to fulfilling those needs and maintaining the diversity and habitat of the freshwater ecosystems.
While these hatcheries work to maintain the health of freshwater ecosystems through sustainable fish populations, Texas game fishing would also not thrive as it does without the stocking of fish.
Fishing and hunting have become not only a hobby but a booming business in the south, generating over four billion dollars into the economy. The fish that Texas hatcheries stock increase the competition for sport fishing and also provide urban subdivisions with small lakes the opportunity to fish. Without the sport, supporting fishing businesses like bait and tackle shops, boat and fishing gear manufacturers would suffer.
“Our mission primarily is to make fishing better. We understand to do that,” Kittel said. “We’ve got to keep the ecosystems functioning well,” Kittel said.
Hatchery biologist Hugh Glenewinkel stressed the important work the hatcheries do to provide Texans with these opportunities to fish.
“If hatcheries weren’t stocking those fish into the public waters, that angling opportunity wouldn’t be there,” Glenewinkel said. “Not only do we provide angling opportunities, but we also provide an opportunity to try and help imperiled or threatened species as well.”
Though the overarching purpose of the hatchery is to improve Texas waters and fishing, the location directly impacts the local environment as well. The water used to raise the fish is provided by the San Marcos River, pumped through a reservoir. When ponds and tanks are drained, the water is run through an on-site water treatment plant and tested for quality before it is returned to the river.
The A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery is an important piece to Texas Parks & Wildlife that Matthews said many are surprised to hear is right in the backyard of San Marcos. The hatchery provides group tours and also offers volunteer opportunities to educate the public on what they do and why it matters.
Matthews said that visitors should come see the hatchery not only to see the fish, but to see and understand the important role the hatchery plays in San Marcos and Texas environments.
“We’re very conscientious of where we’re at and what we’re doing and what we’re trying to be a part of, and I think we do a very good job, and I think it shows.”
Located just over a mile from Interstate 35 stands the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery in San Marcos, Texas. The hatchery is one of five in Texas that stock fresh bodies of water along with three saltwater hatcheries across the state. Without these hatcheries, Texas water ecosystems would not be sustained, and fishing consumerism would crash.
The A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery spawns and raises numerous fish species and sees them from contraception to transportation into the wild, fresh waters.
A line of fish spawning mats hang into a shallow trough of water to grow at the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery. 
Fish eggs stick to the spawning mats as they grow and remain stuck until they eventually drop off, ready to break from the embryo. 
Koi fish are among just a just a few of the fish species that are spawn and raised at the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery in San Marcos. The koi fish are held in similar trough-like tanks as the spawning mats until they are ready to be transported. 
Largemouth bass fish are held in concrete tanks separated by gender. The tanks are framed by tarp above the edge of the tank to prevent the bass from jumping out of the water. 
A male largemouth bass swims alone in one of the holding tanks at the hatchery. Unlike the other bass, it is blind, causing the darker discoloration of its appearance. The fish has adapted its color because it believes it is in a dark environment. 
Large outdoor tanks located outside of the hatchery facility hold the bass once they reach a certain size. From these tanks, the fish will then be transported to Texas waters to stock. The tanks have a layer of wide-woven netting to prevent birds from eating the small fish. 
A water treatment facility is located on the hatchery premises. The San Marcos River is the water source for all fish operations at the hatchery. Before it is restored into the river, the water is run through the treatment facility where it removes all debris and unwanted particles from the water. 
A beaker of largemouth bass eggs sits near the trough of spawning mats. Although they are still in embryos, the fish are able to move through the water as if they were swimming. 
Michael Matthews, the manager of the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery, analyzes sunshine bass embryo and fry under a microscope. A fry is a newly hatched fish egg, and samples contain both embryo and fry. He checks each individual for deformities and overall health to record on a data sheet. 
Sunshine bass fry sit in a petri dish under a microscope to be analyzed for overall health and deformities. 
A sunshine bass fry is clearly visible on the computer screen as A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery Manager analyzes and collects data under a microscope. Although no bigger than a hair to the naked eye, the camera-connected microscope allows for the anatomy of the fry to be seen, including the heartbeat.
