Now, anyone can tour this nationally recognized hatchery in the company of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department coastal fisheries staff members who operate the Center. Your tour starts at the Visitor's Center in the Ben F. Vaughan Building. From the second floor of the Visitor's Center you can observe the entire spawning room.
Information is also available on other native saltwater and freshwater species in Texas.
Leaving the Visitor's Center, you'll follow the progression from spawning tanks to the incubation room and outside to the rearing ponds. In the 1970's, red drum populations had reached an all-time low. Recognizing this decline, the partnership opened the hatchery in 1982, and the first stocking of red drum into Texas bays occurred in Spring 1983. Since then, more than 120 million red drum fingerlings have been reared in hatchery ponds and released into Texas coastal waters. Today, red drum and spotted seatrout populations continue to rebound in response to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's coastal management plan.