About Us
Fish Tech Centers
The San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center plays a leading role in guiding the science and technology that is foundational to species and habitat conservation in the United States, including assisting with the recovery of endangered, threatened, and declining populations of fish and other aquatic species, preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species , and improving fish culture technology and culture protocols.
Our Mission
Fish Tech Centers play a leading role in guiding the science and technology that is foundational to species and habitat conservation in the United States, including assisting with the recovery of endangered, threatened, and declining fish stocks, and improving fish hatchery culture technology and culture protocols.
The San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center conducts research to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with federal, state, and municipal partners build and maintain healthy populations of fish and aquatic ecosystems in the southwestern United States. Our experts work to conserve threatened and endangered species in the wild through captive breeding and by supporting captive populations of endemic species.
Our History
San Marcos National Fish Hatchery opened in the mid-1890s as the first Federal, warm-water fish hatchery west of the Mississippi River. For 60 years the hatchery’s mission was to produce and develop efficient cultural techniques for warm water sport fishes. The original hatchery was donated to Texas State University in the 1960s in return for 116 acres of land south of San Marcos, Texas. The new facility, dedicated in 1976, was named the San Marcos National Fish Hatchery and Cultural Development Center. As the mission shifted from sport fish to research on threatened and endangered species, the station’s name was changed to the San Marcos National Fish Hatchery and Technology Center in 1983 which later became the San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center in 2012.
