NAVAJO NATION TRIBAL FISH HATCHERY

History of the Navajo Nation Fish Hatchery

The Navajo Nation Fish Hatchery, located in the town of Toadlena, New Mexico, began it’s operation during March of 1983. Plans for the hatchery started with planning meetings involving consultants from Pyramid Lake Indian Tribal Enterprises (PLITE) and visits to seven water sources that were considered. After complete water analysis at each location, Toadlena, NM was selected. Various additions were made to the hatchery through the years, such as lining the lower pond, installing modutanks to serve as raceways and outside raceways. The Navajo Nation Fish Hatchery was developed to ensure a continued supply of stockable trout for Navajo Nation waters as long as an egg supply is available from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service .

Hatchery compound with hatchery building and living quarters

Hatching and Rearing Process

What came first, the fish or the egg? The fish! The eggs are collected from a brood stock female and fertilized with the male’s semen and shipped over night from the Ennis National Fish Hatchery in Ennis, Montana. Usually, about 80,000 eggs are sent to the department and delivered

immediately by hatchery staff to the hatchery compound. Once the eggs arrive, they are immediately disinfected and evenly distributed into incubator trays in the hatchery building. Eggs will spend 3-4 weeks in the incubators trays and once the eggs are incubated the fry (young fish) will remain in the incubator trays until all are hatched and the fry have started to absorb their egg sacks. Then the fry are transferred to three raceways. The fish are considered fingerlings (1 inch size) at this point and will remain in the inside raceways from December until as late as May. Fingerlings will remain in the raceways until the they have reached a length of 2-3 inches, then will be transferred to the upper pond. Water quality is to be assessed and fish feed everyday.

Stocking

Once the fish have reached stocking size (6 inch), they will be removed by seining. Through this process the fish are gathered in a net and brought to the edge of the pond, which will be weighed and a calculation will then be used to determine how many fish has been weighed. The net full of fish is then dumped into a stocking tank, which will be used to transport the fish to various lakes on the Navajo Nation. The Research and Management/Hatchery currently stocks 16 lakes within the reservation boundary. The Navajo Nation receives fish yearly from other National Fish Hatcheries such as Alchesay/Williams Creek, Uvalde and Inks Dam. These fish are distributed to the reservation lakes depending on it’s current condition and water level.

Educational Presentations

To make arrangements for your organization or educational class, please contact the Navajo Nation Fish Hatchery or the main office in Window Rock ( P.O. Box 1480, Window Rock, Arizona 86515 -- (928) 871-6451/6452) to make an appointment. Navajo Nation Fish Hatchery Staff will gladly provide presentations in regards to the operations at the fish hatchery and other wildlife issues.