Pvt. John Allen National Fish Hatchery

10/01/2025

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Operations in the Absence of Appropriations

01/02/2024

Happy New Year from Private John Allen NFH! 2023 was a great year here at the hatchery with many great things happening from Pearl Darter reintroductions to dam removals to over 2 million fish (8 different species) being raised and distributed, and much more! We are excited to continue working to conserve, protect, and enhance fisheries throughout the region! Pictured below are just a few of our many highlights and projects from 2023!

Photo 1: Strip spawning a Gulf Coast Walleye. Photo credits: Matt Peay
Photo 2: Piebald Madtoms in aquarium at PJANFH. Photo credits: Jacob Moore
Photo 3: Pearl Darters being released into the Strong River for the first time in 50 years! Photo credits: Cole Cochran
Photo 4: Annual maintenance dirt work on ponds to restore proper slope and grade. Photo credits: Matt Peay

11/07/2023

In honor of we thought we'd share some interesting facts about Alligator Gar and take a look back at this year's production at the hatchery.

Alligator Gar are one of the largest freshwater fish found in North America, weighing up to 350 pounds! They are also some of the oldest fish, with fossil records dating back over 100 million years. Alligator Gar have specialized, scales called "ganoid scales". These armor-like scales make them an exceptionally tough species.

Found throughout the Mississippi River drainage basin, Alligator Gar currently face challenges such as loss of suitable spawning habitat. This is where Pvt. John Allen National Fish Hatchery, USFWS Fisheries biologist, state biologist, and other partners step in to help monitor, manage and restore this species.

In 2023, Private John Allen NFH teamed up with USFWS biologist to collect 15 brood Alligator Gar from Lake George (Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge), near Yazoo, MS. These brood fish were transported back to the hatchery, where they were induced to spawn. Fertilized eggs were hatched and 200,000 fry were distributed to multiple partners in Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, and Oklahoma as part of restoration efforts!

Photo 1: USFWS staff members with an Alligator Gar brood fish at Lake George. Photo credits, Evan Boone, USFWS biologist.
Photo 2: Alligator Gar fry in hatching jars and fry tanks at Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery. Photo credits Cole Cochran, Project Leader.

10/12/2023

Lake Sturgeon update! A total 4,487 Wisconsin Lake Sturgeon reared at Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery have been stocked! Fish Biologists Matt Peay and Jacob Moore stocked 1,000 sturgeon at Shelby Park on the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville, TN and 3,487 sturgeon in Old Hickory Lake on Cumberland River.

These stockings are a part of a 20 plus year restoration program, with multiple partners, that is working towards a goal of building self-sustaining populations of Lake Sturgeon in their historic range!

Photos: Lake Sturgeon stocking at multiple locations along the Cumberland River.
Video: Lake Sturgeon stocking.
Photo and video credits: Matt Peay and Jacob Moore

10/10/2023

Last week Project Leader, Cole Cochran and Deputy Project Leader, Christian Shirley assisted USFWS Jackson, MS Ecological Services Office Biologist Matt Wagner in a sampling event for the Federally At-Risk Yoknapatawpha Darter. The team successfully located and documented the species in 2 new locations! However, the target species was only found in sections of creeks below upstream barriers. These sampling events will help researchers better understand the impact stream barriers can have on these darters.

The team also collected a variety of fish species including 7 darter species! In addition to darters, a wide range of fish native to MS were collected as well including, Grass Pickeral, Pirate Perch, sunfishes, madtoms, and more!

Photo1: Yoknapatawpha Darters sampled in one of the locations. Photo 2: Yoknapatawpha Darter using its natural camouflage to blend in with the creek bottom.
Photo 3: Brighteye Darter (Left) and Yoknapatawpha Darters (Right)
Photo 4: Grass Pickeral
Photo Credits: Ecological Services Fish Biologist Matt Wagner

09/25/2023

The fish hatchery is home to many non-game fish species including the Lake Sturgeon (pictured below). They can be found throughout the St. Lawerence, Hudson Bay, Great Lakes, and Mississippi River watersheds. The Lake Sturgeon is a pre-historic fish species and sometimes referred to as the living dinosaur of the fish world! They can grow to be 8 feet in length, weigh over 200 lbs, and live for nearly 100 years!

Pvt. John Allen National Fish Hatchery is one of many USFWS Fisheries hatcheries tasked with raising Lake Sturgeon for distribution programs throughout their native range. Last week, hatchery staff prepared and marked over 4,000 Lake Sturgeon for distribution!

One of the most interesting features of sturgeon is the presence of a specialized bony scale called a "scute". A "scute" is a diamond shaped ganoid (armor like) scale that will not grow back once removed. This distinguishable feature allows hatchery staff and fish biologist a unique opportunity to physically mark fish for easy identification (pictured below). Every year a different scute(s) pattern is harmlessly removed from all hatchery reared Lake Sturgeon, allowing quick and easy aging and identification upon recapture in the wild! This a completely safe and harmless marking method and is a widely used practice at sturgeon hatcheries everywhere.

Photos: Top: A Wisconsin Lake Sturgeon at Private John Allen.
Photo credits: Christian Shirley, Deputy Project Leader
Bottom Left: Hatchery staff holding a sturgeon. Note the rows of bony scales (scutes) down the side of the fish!
Photo credits: Cole Cochran, Project Leader
Bottom Right: Sturgeon right after the careful removal of scutes. This serves as identification, allowing fisheries biologist to know the exact age of the sturgeon.
Photo credits: Cole Cochran, Project Leader

09/14/2023

It's Throwback Thursday at Pvt. John Allen National Fish Hatchery. This week hatchery staff have been working on harvesting and stocking a species of historical importance to the hatchery... Channel Catfish! In 1901, when the hatchery was first established, the primary objective was to raise native game fish such as the Channel Catfish. Over the years priorities have shifted but we always enjoy getting back to our roots, even if it means using our old scales (as pictured below)! Channel Catfish, and other game fish, are still raised annually at Private John Allen, and are stocked primarily in U.S. Forest Service lakes throughout the state to provide recreational fishing opportunities!

Photos: Left: Hatchery staff using hanging scales to weigh Channel Catfish fingerlings before transport and release into the wild. Photo credit: Fish Biologist, Jacob Moore
Right: Channel Catfish fingerlings. Photo credit: Deputy Project Leader, Christian Shirley

06/16/2022

Yesterday hatchery staff hosted the Choctaw YCC summer program. A long-standing partnership had developed years ago between the hatchery and the Choctaw Tribe. The hatchery would stock catfish, bass, and brim into Lake Pushmataha along with completing some sampling efforts on the lake. Seepage through the levee on the lake resulted in the Choctaw Tribe needing to partially drain the lake to complete some renovation work; and renovation efforts are still taking place today. At that point our partnership came to a standstill. However, the hatchery hosting the Choctaw YCC summer program yesterday marked the first collaboration effort to redevelop our long-standing partnership with the Choctaw Tribe and we’re looking forward to continued success with this great partnership into the future.

Huge thanks to the Choctaw YCC summer program and all their hard work yesterday, it was greatly appreciated!

06/10/2022

🎉🎉150 years ago today, Congress officially authorized the National Fish Hatchery System! Created to help raise fish for food, today 70 operating hatcheries are committed to improving recreational fishing, recovering and restoring federally listed endangered species, and fulfilling tribal partnerships and trust responsibilities. As part of the nation's first conservation program, we are proud to celebrate 150 years of fish history! 🐟

D.C. Booth Historic NFH is 126 years old this year and houses the National Fish and Aquatic Conservation Archives - which has a lot of historical items from National Fish Hatcheries from all 50 states!