TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Symposium 1 - the National Sea ...

Michigan's Platte River State Fish Hatchery Case History
A fourteen-year dispute about phosphorous effluent contribution
and its impact on Platte Lake
Introduction
Harry Westers
Aquaculture Bioengineering Corporation
P.O. Box 8
Rives Junction, MI 49277
Since 1928, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has operated a trout rearing station
on Brundage Spring and creek water, tributaries to the Platte River, near Honor, Michigan.
In 1969 construction was started on a large, modern fish hatchery to support the successful Great
Lakes salmon program.
Production increased from 10,000 kg trout per year to 106, 000 kg coho and chinook salmon.
By the early 1980's residents of Platte Lake, located some 17 km downstream from the hatchery,
came to the Department to express their concerns about negative impacts the new hatchery had
on Platte Lake. They believed that noticeable water quality degradation had occurred,
specifically with respect to water transparencies.
In 1986 litigation was initiated by the Platte Lake Improvement Association (PLIA) against the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR).
That same year a preliminary injunction was issued by the Court regarding discharges of
phosphorus from the hatchery.
The Site
The hatchery is located near Honor, Michigan, in the northwest part of the Lower Peninsula.
The area is characterized by glacial outwash deposits with extensive groundwater resources.
The facility is situated adjacent to Platte River, 29 river kilometers above Lake Michigan, 17.1
km upstream from Big Platte Lake, the disputed body of water (Figure 1).
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