Preparation of Students As Fish Hatchery Biologists: An Academic Perspective from Auburn University

Preparing students as fish hatchery biologists has been a responsibility of colleges and universities.  As society has changed through time, so must our resource agencies and education of students who will work for them.  Auburn University’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences (SFAAS) has been training students in aquaculture and natural resources since the 1940s and we need to continually evaluate the effectiveness of our preparation.  SFAAS training of fish hatchery biologists at the undergraduate level is via a B.S. degree with an aquaculture and fisheries option (graduate training is also a focus of SFAAS).  Of the 10 most important competencies for fish hatchery biologists identified by Gabelhouse (2010), our curriculum includes required courses explicitly addressing 8 of them (fish culture, fish health, ichthyology, fisheries management, limnology, water quality, oral communication/speech, genetics), with another (technical writing) covered across several required courses.  Fish nutrition is the only area not included in the required curriculum (an elective course on hatchery management is available).  Because field experience is particularly important, we continue to emphasize field laboratories; this will require evaluation as online courses increase in popularity.  Addressing current agency needs and allowing flexibility for the future will continue to be a challenge.