SALISBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont Fish and Wildlife officials are defending a plan to close a fish hatchery in Salisbury due to significant budget pressures.
“It’s in the budget that the governor recommended to the Legislature,” said Vermont Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Chris Herrick.
It’s the second time the Salisbury Fish Culture Station has been on the chopping block. It was also slated to be defunded in 2019 but a small increase to the cost of fishing licenses kept the fish flowing. Now, Herrick points to uncertainty in getting a discharge permit renewal and the cost of keep it running. “It’s not a decision we are not making lightly but it’s a decision that we feel we have to make at this time,” he said.
The hatchery is home to Vermont’s broodstock trout which are the mature trout that produce eggs for the state’s other hatcheries. It has the state’s only lighthouse, which gives a range for spawning time for fish. The closure will have a statewide impact by reducing Vermont’s ability to produce trout for stocking over the next three to five years as production is transferred to other hatcheries. “There will definitely be an impact on the fish that are stocked,” Herrick said.
“It just doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Mike Covey with the Vermont Traditions Coalition. He says the impact will be felt in every corner of the state, from the money people spend on fishing to the food that people put on their plates to ecological impacts.
“If the stocked fish are not there for people to take, they will be taking the wild fish, so there is an ecological impact there.”
Lawmakers are a part of the budget battle as well. Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, calls it an unfortunate proposal, not just for the area but for the angling community. “If we have a diminished capacity, we are certainly going to have a diminished revenue coming into the state,” he said.
The closure would save $600,000 and Herrick says he is preparing to shut it down. Current employees would be retained and since the building is a registered historic building, it will also need a caretaker.
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Vermont to close Salisbury fish hatchery