Who I Am

I am a fisheries professional and programmer who has worked with fish hatcheries and fish hatchery data in a variety of capacities for over 25 years. I have learned hatchery operations from a collection of hatchery managers, assistant managers, technicians and culturists with decades of experience raising fish. At the time I write this, I am approaching retirement. I wrote the Hatchery Information System program as a hobby, and it is a fascinating undertaking. Having spent so many years thinking about, and working on, hatchery data management, I am quite ambivalent as to whether or not there is enough benefit in any hatchery data management program to justify the cost, but if the benefit is there, then I strongly feel that the approach taken by Hatchery Information System is the correct one.

Hatchery personnel have a tendency to take their knowledge and head off into retirement. Every hatchery manager I have known has had a wealth of information stored away in their heads, only some of which was passed on to the next generation. I am the same way. I have no interest in selling software, especially in retirement, nor can I support it on my own. However, the concept is a good one, the program functions as intended, and there is much of value in it, even if there are problems left to solve. Therefore, I have created this as an entryway. If somebody has an interest in taking the project forwards, they can contact me.

The program has not been made publicly available for two reasons. The first is that I would feel responsible for maintaining the program. While I am interested in continuing to work on the project, I cannot be the sole support for a project of such size. The second reason is that, if anybody wants to take the project forwards in use, they should be allowed to decide what that means.

Any questions or discussions can be sent to Hatchery Information System. I am generally around, if not off on an adventure, and would be happy to talk to anybody about hatchery data and hatchery data management.