Fraser’s Mills Hatchery in northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada, operates as more than just a place to rear fish. The hatchery has been entwined in the community since its construction.

One of three hatcheries operated by the Maritime province to support recreational angling, Fraser’s Mills is the second oldest and the largest by production, spawning around five million trout and Atlantic salmon eggs each year.

Fraser’s Mills works in tandem with the two other provincially-run hatcheries – McGowan Lake and Margaree. The facilities support enhancement programming across Nova Scotia, stocking primarily trout in the spring, fall, and winter as well as the Atlantic Salmon Enhancement Program.

Built in 1928 by the federal government for its hatchery system, the province assumed operations and rebuilt the facility in the 1980s. The gravity-fed flow-through facility is built alongside and draws water from the South River.

Throughout much of its history, Fraser’s Mills has acted as both an operational hatchery and an educational and tourism site, welcoming students and visitors every year to learn about trout, salmon, Nova Scotia angling opportunities, enhancement programing, and the history and role of the provincial hatcheries.

In 2028, the hatchery will be celebrating its centennial.

Stephen Thibodeau is the manager of fisheries enhancement with the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture, Inland Fisheries Division, which puts him in charge of all three hatcheries. He also happens to neighbour Fraser’s Mills hatchery and has worked there for nearly 25 years.

For Thibodeau, the centennial should be a celebration for both the hatchery and the wider community. “We’d love to do something open to the public to help celebrate with us. That’s a huge milestone,” he says.

Hatchery International spent a morning with the team at Fraser’s Mills to learn how they optimize their operations during each season, and overcome regional challenges such as cold winter snaps and, recently, a record summer drought.

Fraser’s Mills Hatchery supervisor Jessika Macaskill holds a tray of speckled trout eggs in the facility’s hatchery building.

Spring

From an enhancement perspective, the hatchery’s annual cycle begins with the spring trout stocking program.

“It’s our most visible program,” Thibodeau says. “In the spring we stock 200 sites province-wide, primarily with speckled trout, but also rainbow trout, and we do some Atlantic salmon enhancement as well with smolts.”

The spring is when most Nova Scotia’s 50 or so fishing derbies happen, as well as many of the province’s 65 Learn to Fish programs. The province’s enhancement programs provide trout angling opportunities while reducing pressure on vulnerable wild fish populations.

“Our spring stocking is a put-and-take fishery,” Thibodeau says. “We put in harvestable fish for anglers to take.”

In the spring – typically on the May long weekend which is Victoria Day in Nova Scotia – Fraser’s Mills opens its visitor interpretive centre.

Hatchery supervisor Jessika Macaskill explains that, unlike a commercial hatchery, Fraser’s Mills is a quintessential community, educational site. “It almost has a homey feel,” she explains.

The visitor interpretive centre is full of educational exhibits, from timelines with historical images, to a show tank displaying the fish on site. Staff tour visitors around the site daily to explain their operations as well as Nova Scotia angling opportunities.

Nova Scotia’s provincial hatcheries will stock around 200 lakes in the spring, another 150 or so in the fall, and a growing number of sites in the winter for ice fishing.
Photo Stephen Thibodeau

Summer

Come summer, the water becomes too warm to transport fish so hatchery staff focus on keeping the resident fish, including broodstock, comfortable. It is essentially a grow-out period, Thibodeau says.

Outdoors, Fraser’s Mills has 27 long ponds or raceways and 10 circle ponds where approximately 430,000 trout and Atlantic salmon are reared.

Fish in the summer are eating and growing, which requires more oxygen, Macaskill explains. Oxygen systems are turned on to increase dissolved oxygen of the flowthrough water. “It’s temperature-dependent, but I would say we have it set up by mid to late June,” she says.

Pond water levels are also lowered in the summer to increase water flow and dissolved oxygen levels. A recent project added shade covers over the raceways as another measure to provide cover from the sun and partial cover from predators such as eagles and osprey, reducing stress on the fish and improving their overall health.

Summer 2025 is one the hatchery staff won’t forget anytime soon. Between mid-July and late September, the province saw some of the worst drought conditions in decades. The hatchery has a water reserve for the dryer months, but the severity of the drought meant that reserve was quickly depleted.

“It was extremely challenging,” Thibodeau says. “We were forced to stock earlier than we intended to conserve water. Fish we hoped to keep for 2026 also had to be stocked. Our broodstock were relocated to the Margaree and MacGowan Lake hatcheries.”

The drought also prohibited hatchery staff from collecting wild Atlantic salmon for the Atlantic Salmon Enhancement Program. The rivers were simply too low for salmon to migrate from the estuaries to their spawning sites.

“For 2026, there will certainly be less than typical stocking numbers,” Thibodeau says. The three hatcheries combined typically stock 1.5 to two million fish – fry, juvenile, yearling, and adult. This spring they will likely stock one million fish.

Looking back on how the hatchery handled the drought, Thibodeau says he’s proud of the staff’s adaptability.

“There’s always lessons to learn,” Thibodeau says. “We documented every decision made during the drought and, in late fall, staff from the three facilities participated in a debrief session to discuss what was effective and what can we do differently in another severe drought scenario. If there are opportunities to modernize the facility fully or partially, we’ll definitely explore that option.”

Hatchery International

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