Sea Center Texas

As we were driving to Galveston, we passed a sign in Lake Jackson for a place called Sea Center Texas, and thought that sounded interesting.  We looked it up, and found out it is an education center and marine aquarium, but its main purpose is a hatchery.  Today we decided to visit it.

It all got started back in the 70's when there was a freeze along the Gulf, and a large part of the redfish were frozen to death.  The recreational fishermen in the state got together and decided to figure out how to repopulate the area, or there would be no fishing for a long long time.  With help from Dow Chemical, the hatchery was born.

I didn't think a tour of a fish hatchery could be so interesting, but it really was.  They've figured out how to get the fish to lay their eggs year round, instead of just in October, as they do in the wild, by manipulating the temperature of the water and the amount of sunlight different tanks get.

There was also a touch tank, where a volunteer helped you touch crabs and other sea creatures, and several large tanks to display different types of sea habitats and the creatures around them.

The touch tank

This little kid touched the blue crab just fine.  I about got my finger nipped off!

Some of the aquariums

The hatchery

This is an exit sign along the way that cracked me up... A road called This Way, and another called West Way.

On the drive home, we could see a shrimp boat out in the Gulf, and at first I thought it was a plane landing on the water.

Tonight is the covered dish dinner for the park, so we're going to go to that.  It's always fun to meet new people and chat about where they are from and where they are going.