Vt. Fish & Wildlife seeks funds, consultant to assess Salisbury hatchery and statewide fish culture stations

Interim Commissioner Andrea Short told the Senate Institutions Committee on Feb. 5 that the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife will seek funding and an outside consultant to complete an infrastructure needs assessment and multi-year financial forecast for the Salisbury Fish Hatchery and the state’s five fish culture stations.

The department is facing an aging set of facilities, falling license revenue and a regulatory deadline: Salisbury’s NPDES discharge permit expires in December 2027. Short said the department needs detailed engineering and economic analysis to determine what repairs or upgrades would be required to keep Salisbury operating and whether production could feasibly shift to other hatcheries without reducing statewide stocking capacity.

The report the department presented responds to a legislative request (Act 162) to evaluate the feasibility of continuing operations at Salisbury and of transferring broodstock or production to the other state hatcheries. Short said the department did not receive a $100,000 appropriation that had originally been included in the legislation and that staff completed the initial report on their own time; the agency now has $185,000 in one-time funds to start a more detailed assessment and will request additional funding.

Short described the department’s network of facilities: five fish culture stations plus a Fish Health Lab in…