Video: Spawning Salmon at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station

During the annual fall salmon run, the fish return to their birth rivers to spawn. In Vermont, landlocked Atlantic salmon get a bit of extra help with this process at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle. The native salmon population in Lake Champlain was eradicated more than a century ago, but restocking efforts that began in the 1970s have led to modest population growth. Today, most of Vermont’s salmon are raised in fish hatcheries. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s five fish culture stations raise and release more than 1 million fish every year to boost populations and provide anglers with fresh catches.

For the latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger visited the Ed Weed station twice in November to see a fish biologist tag, measure, weigh and observe salmon at the outflow trap at Hatchery Brook. She also watched fish culturists retrieve thousands of eggs from salmon at the brood-stock holding facility. The 331,800 salmon eggs fertilized this season will hatch around Christmas and be raised at the station throughout 2026. About 156,000 salmon will be released into Lake Champlain and several of its tributaries in spring 2027 when they are seven inches long.

Filming date: 11/7/25 & 11/10/25

Music: National Sweetheart, “Tasty Waves”