Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station FACILITIES

The Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station is located in the heart of Idaho's aquaculture industry in the Magic Valley, which follows a 40-kilometer stretch of the Snake River. Most of Idaho's large commercial aquaculture operations are located in that area, and the close proximity of the research facility provides opportunities for industry partnerships in aquaculture research.             

 Hundreds Gather for University of Idaho’s Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station Dedication

More than 200 Idaho legislators, aquaculture researchers, agency representatives and University of Idaho supporters watched as President Timothy P. White and Idaho Gov. James E. Risch cut the ribbon on the university’s new $3.2 million biotechnology aquaculture laboratory and office complex at the Aquaculture Research Institute site in Hagerman.

The new 13,000-square-foot building includes six analytical laboratories, 14 offices, eight cubicles for technicians and graduate students and two conference rooms wired for distance learning and video conferencing with the university’s Moscow campus.

“This station is internationally recognized for its scientific expertise in conservation biology of salmon, fish feed technology and trout breeding for improved performance on grain-based diets,” said Risch. “The new facility will increase the research capacity to develop profitable alternative means for aquaculture. From an economic development standpoint, this is key.”

Idaho produces over seventy percent of the nation’s trout. “If you see trout on the menu at a restaurant in any given town across the county, there is a high likelihood that it came from Idaho,” said Risch.

More than 45 scientists, faculty and staff are involved in the aquaculture laboratory research programs. Ninety-two percent of the operating funds come from competitive and earmarked federal funds and grants and contracts that scientists are awarded. “The station brings in over $3.5 million a year – up from basically nothing ten years ago – making it a significant economic force in this region,” said White.

Both the university’s Aquaculture Research Institute and the new Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station are located in the heart of Idaho's aquaculture industry in the Magic Valley along the Snake River.

The station has collaborative programs with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service, the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission, Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“In the field of research, there are few things we value more highly than collaboration. This project is all about collaboration,” said White. The station was constructed with federal initiative support and private donations.

The dedication ceremony marked the culmination of the $18 million University of Idaho Biotechnology Campaign launched in 1997. Drawing equal funding from federal, state and private sources, the effort completed the new $14 million Agricultural Biotechnology Laboratory on the Moscow campus in 2001 and renovated the adjacent 1950 Agricultural Science Building. The campaign goal was to improve student access to technology and training. ”This is the final jewel of that campaign.” said White.

The facility includes an entrance and lobby area featuring a large aquarium with native species, as well as a smaller aquarium featuring ornamental species of fish that are candidates for production in Idaho using geothermal resources. It also includes a room dedicated to archiving fish-tissue samples from around the Pacific Northwest for future DNA testing associated with research in population genetics of salmon, steelhead, trout, sturgeon, lampreys and burbot.

The facility’s dedication comes on the heels of an announcement from Blackwell Science Publications at Oxford in England stating that the University of Idaho was the top-ranked U.S. university and fourth in the world in 2005 by number of ISI-ranked papers published in the Journal of Fish Diseases. And the University of Idaho was the top U.S. university and seventh in the world for publications in all fish disease journals in the world.
 

Professor John E. Halver, Founder of the Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station and Member of the National Academy of Science
talks about the start-up process

University of Idaho President Tim White along with Mrs. Risch and former Governor James Risch

Director Dr.Ron Hardy speaking at  the dedication ceremonies at the Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station

IDAHO SPRINGS FACILITY