Willie Booker, manager of USFWS’s Orangeburg National Fish Hatchery, posts boundary signs at Bo Ginn National Fish Hatchery near Millen. The Service is reopening the hatchery this month and expects to have it fully operational by 2012. (Photo contributed) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will re-open Bo Ginn (NFH) National Fish Hatchery in Millen. The transfer occurred through an agreement negotiated in December 2009 with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which has overseen the hatchery since 1996.

Bo Ginn NFH becomes the 71st hatchery in the National Fish Hatchery System. The Service expects to bring the hatchery, spread over 100 acres, into operation in the spring of 2011, at least on a limited scale, and to have it fully operational by 2012. The hatchery will employ up to six full time positions when completely staffed.

The Bo Ginn NFH, located about halfway between Augusta and Savannah, has been recognized as a valuable asset for aquatic resource conservation in the Southeast Region.

The hatchery accesses crystal clear springs that are estimated to flow between 7-9 million gallons a day. It will serve as a refuge for threatened and endangered aquatic species and other rare species of concern.

“This facility has a unique and stable water source which can be vital in times of drought and other impacts including accelerating climate change,” says Allan Brown, Fisheries Program Supervisor for the Service’s Southeast Region. “Bo Ginn NFH can play a vital role in establishing a safe haven for imperiled, threatened and endangered fishes and other aquatic species.”

Species of fish raised at the hatchery will depend on the particular needs at the time and will be in cooperation with partners, including the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Interjurisdictional fish (fish that cross state, regional or national boundaries), such as striped bass, are priority species for the National Fish Hatchery System, and will likely be raised at Bo Ginn NFH. Local waters may be stocked depending on the management goals of the Service and its partners. The hatchery will work with species of fishes and mussels listed on federal and state threatened and endangered species lists.

The Bo Ginn Aquarium at the hatchery has been operated by the Jenkins County Development Authority for the past year. The Service is continuing the successful partnership with the Development Authority for the operation of the aquarium. The Service anticipates that this much visited facility will eventually become a fully functioning component of the hatchery and vital to its public use program.

In 1996, Bo Ginn National Fish Hatchery was among five National Fish Hatcheries in the Southeast Region whose operations were transferred under Memorandum of Agreements

MOA) to states as a cost-cutting measure within the Service’s Fisheries Program. The hatchery was originally established in 1939 as a state fish hatchery prior to the operation of Magnolia Springs State Park. In 1948, the property was deeded to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the creation of the Millen National Fish Hatchery. In 1988, this facility was renamed the Bo Ginn National Fish Hatchery and Aquarium. A variety of fish, including sport fishes and imperiled fishes, were raised at this hatchery until the time of transfer. The land itself has remained in federal ownership since 1948.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information, please visit http://www.fws.gov/southeast/ or http://www.fws.gov/.