New Mexico Wildlife magazine Conserving New Mexico's Wildlife for Future Generations
Q&A Meet Francina Martinez-Valencia, Lisboa Springs Hatchery Manager
Francina Martinez-Valencia, Lisboa Springs Hatchery Manager, works as the first-ever woman hatchery manager for the state. A Taos native, she started out as a fish culturist back in November 2007. She has been with the department for 11 years.
In an interview with New Mexico Wildlife magazine editor Alexa J. Henry, she talks about her work day and what it takes to manage a hatchey. The hatchery, which is home to about 150,000-200,000 fish, raises rainbow trout for the Pecos, Las Vegas and Albuquerque areas.
?What do you like most about your job?What I like most here about the job here at Lisboa Springs is that we are never bored. No days is exactly the same as the other. With the amount of equipment we have here something new is always going on, something needs fixing or working on. No two days are alike. Every day is a bit of an adventure. ?What do you like to fish for?
Growing up I always fished for rainbow trout and kokanee. I haven’t had a lot of chance to do warm water fishing but I’m hoping I’ll have the chance to go out and try more bass and walleye fishing. Growing up it was always about been cold water species. ?Have you always wanted to work at a hatchery?
Growing up, I grew up fishing with my dad as a young girl. One of our favorite things to do was go to Eagle Nest, go fishing and on our way to Taos he’d circle around to the Red River hatchery. We’d stop and look at the fish at the show pond. I kind of grew out of it in my teenage years and while I was working at a hatchery in Alamosa, Colorado during my college years there at Adams State College. I got an off-campus work/study job working at the native aquatic species restoration facility there in town. I fell in love with aquaculture and working with different species and decided that aquaculture was what I wanted to do as a career but back in New Mexico and contributing to my home state. ?Why are hatcheries so important?
Our hatcheries are important to provide the best angling opportunities to our sportsmen and women in New Mexico. We want to make sure every chance you have to go out and go fishing is enjoyable as possible to catch a number of fish, for catch and release, or catch and take home for dinner. We want to make sure you have your best chance to catch a fish and enjoying the outdoors.
Fishing vocabulary
Lunker a trophy-sized fish.
Fry the first stage of a trout’s life after hatching. Also known as larval stage.
Fingerling the stage after fry. This name is used since they are about the size of your fingers.
Hatchery a facility were trout are hatch and raised.
Raceway a large water tank, typically made of concrete, with flowing water where adult trout are raised.
Catchable an adult fish that is ready to be stocked in a lake or river and could be caught by anglers.
Where do they live?
Answer Key
Answer Key (click to view)
- pronghorn: grasslands.
- marmot: high-mountain meadows and rocky areas;
- roadrunner: open desert terrain and shrublands;
- sandhill crane: shallow water farm fields and shallow flooded areas;
- Rocky Mountain bighorn: open, mountainous cliffs.
Do you recognize these old fishing lures?
Take a look inside an old tackle box… and you might find some very interesting old lures.
Have you seen any of these before? Do you know what they are called, how to use them and what you can typically catch with each of these?
Visit the Department of Game and Fish on Facebook to let us know the names of these lures and share photos of some of your old lures on Monday, February 17.
Where do they live?
New Mexico offers many types of habitats or places for animals to live. Some animals prefer living in forests or high up in the mountains while others need a lot of water to survive.
These five animals can be found living in different parts of our state. Do you know what habitats they prefer? Match the animal with its habitat.
