Contacts for Fisheries Staff

Fisheries Districts

The District offices are involved with the management of the fisheries in their district including recommendations such as size limits, creel limits, and fish stocking changes.  Day to day activities involve conducting fish population surveys, construction of fish attractors in public lakes, conducting creel surveys and other duties. They also provide assistance regarding pond management and other fisheries information requests. District staff also serves as a response team to fish kills and pollution incidents.

The district personnel are:

Western Fishery District: Adam.Martin@ky.gov and Nick.Simpson@ky.gov

Northwestern Fishery District:  Jeremy.Shiflet@ky.gov and Madelyn.Ruble@ky.gov

Southwestern Fishery District:  Eric.Cummins@ky.gov and Kayla.Boles@ky.gov

Central Fishery District:  Jeff.Crosby@ky.gov and David.Baker@ky.gov

Northeastern Fishery District:​  Tom.Timmermann@ky.gov and ​​Nathan.Hayes@ky.gov​​

Southeastern Fishery District Marcy.Anderson@ky.gov and Bradley.Hartman@ky.gov

Eastern Fishery District  Jason.Russell@ky.gov and Emily.Watling@ky.gov

Map showing Fisheries District boundaries and office locations

Fish Hatcheries

There are two hatcheries located in Kentucky that are owned and operated by the KDFWR and one hatchery that is owned and operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The hatcheries produce the fish that are stocked within the state and a few that are provided for other states.

Minor Clark Hatchery and Peter W. Pfeiffer Hatchery are KDFWR hatcheries that produce cool and warm water fishes such as largemouth bass, muskellunge, walleyes, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, blue catfish and channel catfish.  They also house the fish transportation section, which transports and stocks fish all over the Commonwealth.

Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery (USFWS) produces cold water fishes such as brown, brook and rainbow trout.

All the hatcheries are involved in additional projects such as mussel production and protection.

The hatchery contacts are:

Minor Clark Fish Hatchery Rod.Middleton@ky.gov

Peter W. Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery Noah.Nelson@ky.g​ov​

Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery James.Gray@FWS.gov

Fisheries Research and Aquatic Education

The Fisheries Research Section of the Fisheries Division has six primary sections including five field research subsections and one computer support section. All subsections of the research section are based in Frankfort, except for Critical Species Investigations, which is located in Murray, KY.  The field research subsections are involved with intensively studying management activities such as size limits, creel limits, fish stockings, and other management activities that might have statewide implications. The biostatistics section is responsible for providing technical assistance to all fisheries division staff and is responsible for analyzing creel survey data and updating and maintaining all Division databases. The Aquatic Education section is responsible for scheduling educational fishing events and promoting fishing to both youth and adults.

The Fisheries Research and Aquatic Education personnel are:

Federal Aid Coordinator: Joseph.Zimmerman@ky.gov

Databases and Web Management: Don.Bunnell@ky.gov

Big Rivers Research: Jason.Herrala@ky.gov

Urban Fisheries: Dane.Balsman@ky.gov

Non-Game Fishes: Matt.Thomas@ky.gov

Critical Species Investigations - Murray: Joshua.Tompkins@ky.gov

Critical Species Investigations - Frankfort: Jeffrey.Herod@ky.gov​

Aquatic Habitat: Spencer.Phillips@ky.gov

Aquatic Education: Easton.Copley@ky.gov

Aquatic Nuisance Species Coordinator: Jeffrey.Herod@ky.gov​

Environmental Section

The major duties of this section include fish kills, pollution invest​iga​tion, disease investigation, environmental revie​ws and rare and endangered species requests. Environmental reviews include Environmental Imp​act Statements, Environmental Assessments, U.S. C.O.E. Section 404 Permits, Department of Transportation Projects, Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permits, hydroelectric permits, and coal mining permits. Over 500 requests per year are made to satisfy rare and endangered species information needs.

Contact: EmilyM.Lawson@ky.go​v​