Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery
The Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery is a fish hatchery administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service located approximately west of Yankton, in Yankton County, South Dakota, in the United States. The hatchery is located just below Gavins Point Dam, near the Missouri River.
The fish hatchery was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, following construction of Gavins Point Dam. The purpose of the hatchery is to help maintain fisheries in the Missouri River Basin, following impacts to natural river flows and loss of habitat due to development and channelization of the Missouri River Basin.
Hatchery staff rear threatened and endangered fish species, including the pallid sturgeon and American paddlefish. The hatchery also rears and stocks many game fish species including: walleye, bluegill, yellow perch, rainbow trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, black crappie and others throughout the Missouri River region.
The hatchery complex is open to the public and contains a small exhibit area, administrative offices, two hatching jar batteries, nine indoor cement tanks, workshop, and feed room. Visitors are welcome to view the eggs in the hatching jars and the fish being raised in the tanks. Eight outdoor raceways are used to rear trout and to temporarily hold other species. Six and thirty earthen ponds are used to raise cool- and warm-water fish.