For more than a century, fish have been reared at Michigan’s state fish hatcheries. If you’ve ever been curious about what happens at these unique facilities, the DNR encourages you to plan a visit with family or friends this summer and see this very cool work as it happens.

Located throughout Michigan, the DNR’s six state fish hatcheries rear and stock fish for a variety of reasons, including to:

• Restore ecosystem balance.
• Provide diverse fishing opportunities.
• Rehabilitate low fish populations.
• Reintroduce species that have disappeared from Michigan waters. 

“Over the course of a typical year the DNR will stock roughly 26 million fish, many courtesy of our state hatcheries,” said DNR fish production manager Ed Eisch. “Each of our facilities works hard to produce several different species of fish, and we love having visitors come and see how we do that work.” 

Michigan’s six state fish hatcheries are Harrietta State Fish Hatchery (Wexford County), Marquette State Fish Hatchery (Marquette County), Oden State Fish Hatchery (Emmet County), Platte River State Fish Hatchery (Benzie County), Thompson State Fish Hatchery (Schoolcraft County) and Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery (Van Buren County). All are open to the public. 

Want to learn more? Visit michigan.gov/hatcheries or contact Elyse Walter, 517-284-5839 or Ed Eisch, 231-922-6055.