Fish stocking numbers top 53.5 million

The Fiscal Year 2021 Stocking Report produced by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s two fisheries divisions revealed more than 27 million fish were stocked in Texas coastal bays, and more than 26.5 million fish were stocked in the state’s lakes and reservoirs. 

Coastal Fisheries

Red drum

To date, more than 800 million hatchery-reared red drum fingerlings have been released into Texas coastal bays since 1975.

Spotted seatrout

Coastal hatcheries have placed an emphasis on the production and stocking of spotted seatrout, with a goal of stocking eight to 10 million spotted seatrout fingerlings into coastal bays each calendar year. During the 2021 summer stocking period, more than three million spotted seatrout were stocked in the southern Texas bays. To date, more than 136 million spotted seatrout fingerlings have been released into Texas coastal waters since 1983.

Southern flounder

Coastal hatcheries staff, in collaboration with university researchers, have made significant advancements in methods to culture flounder fingerlings. To date, more than 595,000 hatchery‐reared southern flounder fingerlings have been stocked into Texas coastal waters since 2006.

The Coastal Fisheries Division operates three saltwater fish hatcheries — Sea Center Texas (Lake Jackson), Perry R. Bass Marine Fisheries Research Station (near Palacios), and CCA Marine Development Center (Corpus Christi). 

During FY2021, 27,194,588 fingerlings were released, involving 203 stocking trips and 30,550 miles of driving to distribute fish to eight major saltwater bodies.

Inland Fisheries

The Inland Fisheries Division operates five freshwater hatcheries. Nine species of fish (largemouth bass, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, channel catfish, blue catfish, smallmouth bass, sunfish, walleye and rainbow trout) are cultured in these facilities or acquired from commercial producers for stocking. 

According to the 2020 Special Report on Fishing, in 2019, 50.1 million Americans (17 percent of people age 6 and older) went fishing at least once. Together these anglers spent an estimated $51 billion annually on equipment, licenses, trips, and other fishing-related items. At the state level, the economic impact of sportfishing in Texas is reported to be $4.29 billion in retail sales, $7.21 billion multiplier effect, $2.28 billion in salaries and wages, supports 48,438 jobs, generates $567.6 million in federal tax revenue, and $438.9 million in state and local tax revenues.