A two-week intensive short course was conducted in June and July for professional fish hatchery workers from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the Nez Perce tribal hatchery. The course was designed to replace and upgrade a similar course that was formerly offered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The course was taught on the University of Moscow campus for the first week, covering fish anatomy, physiology, immunology and diseases, water quality and fish nutrition. Students measured water quality, dissected fish, conducted clinical evaluation of tissues and blood, and calculated such things as oxygen consumption at different water temperatures and the effects of fish anesthetics on respiration.
The second week was taught in Twin Falls and covered the application of knowledge presented in week one to fish hatchery operation. Topics in the second week of the course included hatchery record keeping, water quality, biosecurity, fish transportation, feeding practices, triploid fish performance and other topics that hatchery professionals must know to be effective fish culturists.
The course director was Dr. Ron Hardy. Instructors were University of Idaho professors Ken Cain, Matt Powell and Gary Fornshell, Idaho State University professor Ken Rodnick and Terry Patterson, director of the fish technology program at the College of Southern Idaho. The second week of instruction was held at the College of Southern Idaho’s fish hatchery and teaching facility. Sixteen students were enrolled and received 20 hours of lectures and an additional 30 hours of hands-on laboratory experience. The course was a success and will likely be offered again in 2012.