Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center
The Edwin L. Cox, Jr., Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) combines visitation and outdoor education with a production fish hatchery. Its mission is to provide
an educational, entertaining visitor experience that promotes freshwater sport fishing and the enhancement, conservation and stewardship of aquatic resources in
Texas. (Shelli Parker/Athens Review)
TFFC is a facility of the Inland Fisheries
Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department (TPWD), the state agency
charged with the management and
conservation of the natural and cultural
resources of Texas.
The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center
is an $18 million facility built without
the use of state funds even though it
belongs to the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department, an agency of the state of
Texas. Many public and private entities
worked with the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Foundation to raise this money.
Much of the money came from the Sport
Fish and Wildlife Restoration Fund,
a federal program funded by a tax on
purchases made by hunters and anglers.
The City of Athens provided a financial
package worth $4,063,000, the largest
single gift ever made to a conservation
project in the state of Texas. Additional
support came from the Share Lunker
Foundation, Inc., the Athens Municipal
Water Authority, the Athens Economic
Development Commission and a number
of private corporations.
Grants from corporations, conservation
organizations and individuals continue
to be a vital source of funds for TFFC
programs.
TFFC houses a hatchery, laboratory,
aquarium, and education center focusing
on underwater wildlife in the state’s
freshwater streams, ponds and lakes. It
serves as home base for the ShareLunker
program, which invites anglers to
donate trophy-sized largemouth bass for
research and breeding purposes. Annual
visitation is more than 60,000. A third of
our visitors attend with school and youth
groups.
• Visitor services
• Daily interactive dive show
• Narrated tram tours of the production
hatchery
• Opportunity to fish for rainbow trout
or channel catfish (instruction, bait,
and fishing rods provided)
• Self-guided wetlands trail
• Educational programs for groups
• Gift shop with snacks
• Picnic areas, covered and open
• Meeting facilities (theater area with
audiovisual setup, enclosed and openair
pavilions, tents available)
• Facility Facts
• 106 acres
• 23,000 square foot Visitor Center
• 300,000 gallons of aquaria
• 24,000 square feet of indoor hatchery
and laboratories
• 1.2-acre public fishing pond
• 0.8-mile wetland trail
• 26,000-gallon dive tank aquarium
• 56 species of fish, reptiles, and
mammals on display in natural
habitats [Reservoir exhibit]
• 162 species of plants, shrubs, and trees
• 10,000 square feet of wildflower
displays (seasonal)
• 45,000 square feet of bedded plants
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