Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center

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Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center

Entrance sign for the DWR Aquatic Animal Heath and Research Center

Formerly the Fisheries Experiment Station

The Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center, formerly known as the Fisheries Experiment Station, was created in the early 1960s to provide technological development and extension services for Utah's fish culture program.

About the center

Located in Logan, the Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center plays a unique, critical role in protecting and expanding Utah's aquatic animal populations. The center is part of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. AAHRC teams conduct innovative research and provide a variety of aquatic animal health services related to aquatic animal health, fish production and fisheries management.

The center's staff have conducted intensive fish diet testing, developed fish health-approved brood stocks and created the Fish Health/Condition Profile — an innovative tool that is now widely used in fishery management across Utah and has been adopted by many other states and various federal agencies.

Conducting important research

Since its inception, AAHRC has had an active research and development role, which includes fish disease control, aquaculture, fish quality assurance, aquatic animal health and fisheries management.

Research scientists work closely with other DWR staff, as well as regional and national partners, to protect Utah's aquatic resources and expand angling opportunities. The following objectives guide the center's research efforts:

Increasing angler satisfaction and quality of life for Utah residents
Managing sportfish and conserving nongame native fish species
Recruiting and retaining anglers
Protecting habitats and ecosystem health
Improving culture methods for a variety of fish species
Managing aquatic invasive species and mitigation of illegal fish stocking

The center's aquatic animal health team works directly with DWR staff and partners. Efforts are directed toward maintaining healthy populations by providing:

Inspection and certification of aquatic animal populations.
Diagnostic services to identify and treat pathogens.
Surveillance of pathogens across the state.
Risk assessment for import/export of aquatic animals.
Research to better detect and prevent pathogens.

What we're focusing on now

The center is focused on improving the production of warmwater fish species (a high priority for Utah anglers), detecting and managing Flavobacterium psychrophilum (causative agent of bacterial coldwater disease), and controlling the growth and spread of nuisance fish (to ensure top-quality fishing opportunities).

Although it provides many services to the state of Utah, the Aquatic Animal Health and Research Center's primary role is to ensure the good health, diversity and abundance of Utah's aquatic animal populations.