Albert Powell Hatchery is located in Hagerstown, Maryland and is named after a former Superintendent of Hatcheries. Construction began in 1946 and was completed in 1949. Albert Powell Hatchery personnel hatch more than 600,000 trout eggs annually and receive egg shipments from private suppliers, as well as numerous federal hatcheries. This hatchery supplies necessary trout production requirements to meet numerous Fishing and Boating Services goals such as internal facility fish transfers, both spring and fall “Put and Take” stocking seasons, Youth Fishing Rodeo Program and “Put and Grow” juvenile stocking requests from Freshwater Fisheries Program Regional Biologists.
Hatchery visiting hours are M-F (9 - 4:30) for public viewing. Please call 301-791-4736 (ext.106) or alt. 301-393-5940 (ext. 105) for any information or questions regarding the hatchery. While visiting, please park in designated locations and follow all directives and bio-security signs to keep the hatchery clean and pathogen free.
The water used at the hatchery is supplied by a spring that averages 3,400 gallons per minute and is considered the second largest spring in Maryland. Covers are placed on the water surface to reduce the aquatic vegetative growth of duckweed, water cress and grasses. Aerators in the spring operate seasonally to increase oxygen and reduce harmful gases, such as nitrogen.
When eggs arrive, they are acclimated to our water temperature, disinfected with iodine,
then measured and placed into incubators. Within 10 days eggs will be fully hatched.
By day 21 all fry have absorbed their yolk sak and are ready to be placed into our hatchroom grow tanks.
The hatchroom is equipped with five incubator stacks and 16 circular fry/starter tanks.
Trout are cultured in the hatchroom for approximately 2.5 months
before being transferred to our outdoor culture raceways.
19 outdoor culture raceways are used for adult trout production.
Raceways are of various widths and lengths and utilized
to hold maximum fish densities at harvest time.
A trophy fish holding area (Generic Pond) houses
as many as 300 trout that will average 5-8 lbs each.
High sediment loads in the water column are created during raceway cleaning.
All suspended solids are diverted to a water treatment facility during cleaning operations
where they are captured in this clarifier. Clear water then outfalls over the weir and back into Beaver Creek.
For more information concerning Albert Powell Hatchery, contact
Michael Anderson at 301-393-5940 ext. 108.
