Vermont officials weigh costly options to keep Salisbury fish hatchery operating

Interim Commissioner Short Sleeve, who leads the Vermont Fish and Wildlife program, told the Appropriations Committee on March 14 that the Salisbury Fish Culture Station faces an expiring discharge permit and a range of costly choices about renovation, closure or moving broodstock.

"Our mission is to the conservation of our fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the people of Vermont," Short Sleeve said, summarizing why the department is studying how to keep hatchery operations while meeting water-quality requirements.

The department presented the committee with a report that summarizes prior feasibility work and recent operational steps at Salisbury, which houses the agency’s broodstock and is the third-largest production facility in the state system of five hatcheries. Agency staff said the current discharge permit runs through Dec. 30, 2027, and that the point of compliance is immediately at the end of the hatchery raceways where water leaves the site and enters what staff referred to as "Tributary 10." The department said that because hatchery discharge comprises the vast majority of that stream’s flow, dilution options are limited.

Officials described a spectrum of responses under consideration: continuing operations while making incremental, lower-cost changes (vacuuming raceways, lower-phosphorus feed, and small capital tweaks such as degassing towers), piping discharge farther downstream, relocating broodstock to other stations, or pursuing a full rebuild with tertiary treatment. A 2013 engineering estimate cited in the presentation put a full…