What We Do

Hatchery Facts and Photos

Funds for the Pittsford National Fish Hatchery were authorized by Congress 34 Statute 721, June 30, 1906. That year the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries built a small rearing station on this site to grow brook trout during the summer months. For three years fish were grown in sixty wooden troughs supplied with water from the brook and spring.

In 1909 the land was purchased and the hatchery opened for the production of salmonids (trout, char, and salmon). From 1925-1940 it was an experimental station, raising California golden trout, cut throat trout, and rainbow trout, brown trout, Loch Levlen trout, lake trout, brook trout, Arctic char, and Arctic grayling. From 1940 to 1981 it was a production facility raising brook, brown, and rainbow trout for the waters of Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire. Fish were also produced for the Farm Pond Program.

The rearing of sea-run Atlantic salmon for the Connecticut River Restoration Program was begun in 1970. In 1974 the first salmon in over a century returned up the river to spawn. The first tagged salmon to ascend the Connecticut River was produced by Pittsford and tagged by Mrs. Katherine Sivret of Chittenden. Pittsford NFH was responsible for most of the returns including 1981 when the largest number of fish returned. Pittsford's number of successful returns has yet to be exceeded, as the number of returns has declined since Pittsford was taken out of the smolt production program with the opening of newer facilities.

Rearing of landlocked Atlantic salmon and lake trout for the Lake Champlain Restoration Program was begun in 1980. Lake trout production would end in 1996 and landlocked salmon were produced until 2005. These two species became extinct in the lake around the turn of the century, but there is now a thriving fishery in the lake. The station now raises approximately 200,000 lake trout annually for Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes. The station also raises a half million sea-run Atlantic salmon to be released as fry and 100,000 as 9" smolts in order to once again increase the number of returns up the Connecticut River. In 1999, Pittsford began assisting New York with lake sturgeon production for release into the St. Lawrence River and Finger Lakes. The lake sturgeon is a threatened species in New York.

Pittsford is one of the most efficient hatcheries in the nation to operate in terms of cost. The gravity fed water supply from Furnace Brook is exceptionally pure, so pumping and associated costs are also not required. The water temperature fluctuates seasonally, which results in fish better adapted to their natural environment than fish raised in sterile constant temperature water their entire lives.

Eggs are received at the station in November of each year from broodstock facilities. They are placed in incubators inside the hatchery building where they hatch about a month later. The newly hatched sac-fry stay in troughs inside the building where they absorb their yolk sac and develop. In May they are moved outside to raceways where they continue to grow. The production fish are usually kept in the covered raceways as they prefer shade to direct sunlight, and salmon are susceptible to sunburn. The covers also provide the protection from a variety of predators.

The fry are originally placed in only a few raceways. As they grow, they are split off and moved to more raceways, to give them sufficient room. By the onset of winter the fish will have spread to fill an entire series of raceways. The fish are fed every 20 minutes once they have absorbed their yolk sacs. In the raceways they are generally fed hourly, though this varies with conditions. During the winter their metabolism slows and they are fed less often.

The lake trout spend the following year in the raceways, growing to an average length of 7 inches. They are then stocked the following Spring, after spending 18 months in the hatchery. The Atlantic salmon for the Connecticut River are two year old smolts and spend about 30 months at the hatchery. When stocking, some 10,000 fish are placed in a 650-gallon tank on the back of the hatchery's flatbed truck. The tank is aerated and has oxygen injection into the water. The fish are driven to the stocking site where the bed is raised and a six-inch wide hose attached to the end of the tank. The tank is opened and the fish are drawn directly into the water. Most of the salmon are stocked in or near streams that lead to the lake; some salmon are stocked from ferries directly into the lake. Population surveys indicate that survival is very high.

During the summer months some three hundred adult fish are kept in the fenced display pond opposite the kiosk. A feed pellet machine is available if you wish to try your hand at feeding the fish.

In 1991, an estimated 10,000 anglers spent 566,202 angler days in pursuit of the Landlocked salmon on Lake Champlain, contributing 50 million dollars to the Region's economy through both durable and non-durable purchases (Gilbert 1991). Pittsford NFH produced approximately 60% of the Landlocked salmon produced for Lake Champlain from 1980 to 2005.

Pittsford's gravity-fed water supply is not pumped or chilled, making it one of the least expensive hatcheries in operating costs. The primary water supply, Furnace Brook, provides natural temperature variance and seasonal fluctuations (siltation, hardness, pH) that closely approximate what the fish would encounter in nature. Furnace Brook is a clean, soft water stream with high oxygen content. Data from water chemistry analyses are available dating back to 1952.

In the past 30 years, water temperatures in Furnace Brook have ranged from a high of 77 degrees F to a low of 32 degrees F. A new water heater, installed late in 1996, provides some ability to increase raceway water temperatures during key growth stages of fish reared at the hatchery. Normally, 1200 gallons water/minute flow through each pair of raceways. When adequate water supply is available, raceway flows can be adjusted using a valve. Two wells, rated for 650 gallons water/minute and 300 gallons water/minute, can be used to augment the water supply. The well water stays at a constant temperature of 47 degrees F. A small amount of spring water, ranging from 45 degrees F to 50 degrees F, also contributes to the raceway water supply. The spring and wells are cold, clean, hard water with super saturation of nitrogen often in excess of 110%. The super saturation of nitrogen is corrected using packed columns.

Furnace Brook

Furnace Brook above the Pittsford Hatchery has a relatively sparse vertebrate species composition, primarily due to its short length and a barrier dam at the hatchery water intake. Wild populations of brook, brown, and rainbow trout, descended from pre-1960 stocking from Pittsford and other Vermont hatcheries, dominate the fish community. Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation's Water Quality Division collected invertebrate data in Furnace Brook near the Hatchery in 1991. The taxonomic orders Diptera, Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera comprised approximately 30%, 37% and 24% of the samples, respectively.

Physical Plant

There are 40 outside concrete raceways (20 paired sets) currently in operation at the Hatchery. All forty raceways in use are covered because of the susceptibility of salmon to sunburn. These raceways are approximately 100 feet long by 8 feet wide. Water depths range up to 22 inches.

The only incoming source of water for the raceways is at the head end of raceways No.1 and No. 2. The water then flows sequentially through the other raceways in the series and into the drain. Several unused earthen raceways on the hatchery property are spring fed. These raceways have not been used for many years. Some of them drain into Furnace Brook upstream from the hatchery water intake, but they could potentially be diverted to enter downstream from the water intake.