AAHRC fish culture

Responsibilities

The Logan Fish Hatchery, also formerly known as the fish culture section of the Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center (formerly the Fisheries Experiment Station), provides a diversity of services for the state of Utah. The hatchery oversees three programs: the trout facility, the June sucker recirculation facility, and the bluehead sucker facility. In addition to these three, the hatchery crew assists in a variety of other programs. Maintaining captive least chub and leatherside chub populations on the trout hatchery, the walleye spawn at Willard Bay, and assisting in trout spawning operations at the Mantua Fish Hatchery and Strawberry Reservoir trap are a few examples.

The trout facility produces fish for stocking for sportfish angling purposes, the AAHRC research program, and the development of brood stock for the state fish culture program. Stocking locations for 2020 include the Weber and Ogden Rivers, Logan River, Panguitch Lake, Hyrum Reservoir, Tony Grove Lake, Garden City Pond, Laketown Reservoir, Pioneer Park Pond, Locomotive Springs, and other waters throughout the Northern region of Utah. The facility's involvement in brood stock development includes quarantining and raising fry that arrive as eggs from other state and federal hatcheries, eggs from wild sources inside the state, and eggs from one state hatchery that are later transferred to another state hatchery. All fish undergo extensive disease testing before being transferred to the various brood facilities. Total raceway space is 16,808 cubic feet.

The June sucker program spawns and raises the endangered fish to help with the recovery of the species. Brood stock is maintained on site. Production fish are raised in a recirculation system. Currently, stocking occurs at Utah Lake and the Rosebud grow out ponds in Box Elder County. Historically, fish have been stocked into Red Butte Reservoir and Mona Reservoir among other locations. Fish for university research are also provided by the facility. Total rearing space is 4,158 cubic feet.

The bluehead sucker facility was completed in 2019. This program is in the early stages of development. The current goal of this program is to raise brood stock that will produce future generations of bluehead. The next phase of the program will be fish production and stocking individuals back into their native Weber River and potentially other waters identified for reintroduction. The facility was designed to raise 20,000 2-inch fish for stocking. Total rearing space is 396 cubic feet.

Water source

There are 18 flowing artesian wells on the property with water rights of 9.45 cubic feet per second (cfs). Water usage is approximately 4.5 cfs. Temperatures range from 54°F to 65°F.

Personnel

Gary Howes, Hatchery Manager (Wildlife Biologist III)

Gary began working for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as a seasonal native species technician in the central region in 2005. After earning a Bachelor of Science with a major in wildlife science from Utah State University, he began full-time employment at the Logan Fish Hatchery in 2009 as a wildlife specialist. After taking special interest in recirculating aquatic systems (RAS), he completed a Master of Science degree from USU with an emphasis in RAS.

Devin Johansen, Hatchery Assistant Manager (Wildlife Biologist II)

Devin started his employment with the Utah DWR in 2014. He has experience with many of Utah's hatcheries, including Mammoth Creek, Midway, Whiterocks, Fountain Green and now Logan. He also worked for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish at the Los Ojos Fish Hatchery. He earned his Bachelor of Science in biology from Utah Valley University.

Caleb Campbell, Fish Culturist (Wildlife Biologist I)

Caleb started at the Logan Hatchery/AAHRC in January 2019. He has worked for the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Alaska with sockeye, coho and pink salmon and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission with American shad and walleye. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife conservation from Juniata College.

Carson Richards, Fish Culturist (Wildlife Biologist I)

Carson began working for the DWR as a seasonal tech in 2012 and continued while working on his bachelor's degree. In 2015, he graduated from Utah State University with a B.S. in fisheries and aquatic science. After graduating, he took a full-time position in Idaho, working for Clear Springs Foods at one of their rainbow trout brood stations. In 2021, he came back to the DWR, working full time at the Logan Hatchery.

Research at the Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center

The Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center (formerly the Fisheries Experiment Station) conducts applied aquatic research throughout Utah. Much of our research is conducted in collaboration with regional Division of Wildlife Resources staff and serves the needs of hatchery and field biologists statewide.

The AAHRC has been involved in fisheries research since the early 1960s. Historically, research focused on improving fish health protocols and evaluating new fish culture techniques. Presently, our research duties are broad and have expanded to encompass additional questions and challenges that relate to the conservation and management of Utah's aquatic resources.

Current research projects

Our current research seeks to answer questions that address sportfish management, native species recovery efforts, aquatic invasive species, and improvements in fish health diagnostics. A subset of current research projects is listed below.

Developing and improving warmwater fish culture

The AAHRC staff is involved with warmwater fish culture throughout Utah. We assist with spawning efforts through training, quality assurance, literature review and data analysis. Often, our warmwater efforts target production of sterile fishes using triploid methods or sterile crosses between two similar species.

Stocking sterile fishes provides managers with greater population control and can be used to increase angling opportunities while minimizing the potential for negative interactions with native species.

Recent warmwater spawning efforts include hybrid striped bass, tiger muskie and walleye.

Control of nuisance fishes

The ability to suppress or eradicate populations of nuisance fishes is often necessary to meet management goals or satisfy recovery efforts for native species that have been displaced. Limited options are available for such control efforts; manual removal (e.g., netting, electrofishing) is common, but time intensive, and can be difficult to implement in complex habitats. Chemical treatments (e.g., rotenone) require extensive planning and permitting, are expensive to conduct and result in non-selective mortality.

The AAHRC staff is currently involved in several efforts aimed at suppression of common nuisance species in Utah. Most recently, these species include brook trout and common carp. We are using a combination of population modeling and field evaluations to design potential control strategies that can be implemented by biologists throughout the state.

Novel strategies include stocking of triploid (sterile) individuals to reduce natural recruitment through density-dependent mechanisms, or the introduction of predators that target and control certain components of a nuisance population. Most often, several strategies are combined to create an integrated pest management plan that achieves the desired outcome with reasonable time and expense allocation.

Cryopreservation

Sperm (also known in fish culture as "milt") availability is a constant concern for the production of many species of fish. Artificial propagation of sport fish is a primary tool in managing fisheries and meeting angler expectations in Utah.

To meet these needs, various strains and species are used to facilitate stocking and population augmentation throughout the state, necessitating milt be available at times outside of its natural occurrence. Using liquid nitrogen, it is possible to suspend and reanimate milt for the fertilization of eggs.

AAHRC staff are working with DWR fish culture staff to refine the techniques for cryopreservation of milt for various species in Utah, notably cutthroat trout. Such efforts would aid conservation efforts where milt availability is a concern.

Research personnel

Robert Shields

Robert has been AAHRC's team leader since 2018. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in wildlife biology at Missouri State University under Dr. Dan Beckman. His master's degree work focused on life history traits of freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) in the Lower Missouri River. That project documented the presence of dreissinid mussels and absence of native unionid mussels or aquatic snails in the diets of these fish.

Robert received his Ph.D. in environmental science from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, under Dr. Mark Pyron. His doctoral research evaluated assemblage-level effects of invasive silver carp (Hypophthalmichthyes molitrix). He also studied macrosystem scale predictors of species' occurrence in the mountain steppe regions of the U.S. and northern Mongolia, and modeled the effects of changing climate on native and invasive fish species' distributions in the U.S. Great Basin.

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Connor Schwepe

Connor is from Ohio and completed a B.S. in environment and natural resources from The Ohio State University, during which time he worked in an aquaculture research lab. After graduating, he worked a seasonal position at a Lake Sturgeon hatchery in northern Michigan, raising sturgeon for stocking. In August 2019, he began a master's program at Southern Illinois University, and received his zoology degree in May 2022. His master's thesis focused on intensive larviculture and the use of alternative protein sources, such as soybean meal, in formulated fish diets.

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Christopher Jenney

Chris joined AAHRC as a research biologist and biometrician in 2024. He earned a B.S. in fish and wildlife sciences from Oregon State University and began his career with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, where he conducted research on Pacific salmon populations. He later earned an M.S. in fisheries conservation and management at the University of Arizona under Dr. Scott Bonar, focusing on fish habitat associations in Arizona's Verde River and examining how native fish populations respond to major flooding events.

Now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona, also under Dr. Bonar's mentorship, Chris is studying the reintroduction of the endangered razorback sucker into the Verde River. His research assesses post-stocking survival, movement patterns and habitat preferences of razorback sucker to evaluate stocking success. In addition, he is exploring large-scale strategies to improve native fish stocking programs across the lower Colorado River Basin, aiming to support the recovery of endangered fish species throughout the region.

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