Dear Legislator, Trask River Hatchery.....

Jennie@ifish · 01-25-2002, 06:01 AM

1/25/2002

Dear Legislator,

In 2001, Oregon experienced our largest recorded return of hatchery fish. Every river that had returning hatchery fish was filled with fishermen from near and far. Every fishing trip generated local spending that benefited our communities. Anglers bought license and tags. Out of state fisherman getting in on the bounty, paid double for their license and tags. Anglers bought fuel for both vehicles and boats. Bait, tackle and lure sales soared. Campgrounds, motels, restaurants, grocery stores, and boat and auto repair shops benefited from angler spending. Fishing boat sales in the Northwest were strong – the only strong segment in an economically depressed industry!

In Tillamook County, hotels and campgrounds are full during the run of hatchery fish in our seven rivers. During September, October, and November, Tillamook Bay was so full of boats you could walk across the bay and never touch the water! This winter, our local rivers were so full of drift boats that we had traffic jams.
These anglers are fishing for hatchery fish.
But the Governor is proposing closure of these hatcheries. In his latest budget proposal, he still wants to close the Trask river hatchery that raises spring and fall Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead which supports this lucrative fishery.

These hatcheries also supply spring and fall Chinook eggs for the Whiskey Creek fish hatchery, which for 15 years has raised and released over 180,000 spring and fall Chinook annually at no cost to the State of Oregon. If the Trask Hatchery closes, so will Whiskey Creek! If Whiskey Creek closes, Tillamook County will lose fall and spring Chinook fishing, and millions of dollars of local spending by anglers. This, in a community which has already been hurt by the lack of wild fish and restrictions on logging and dairy farming.

Jim Myron of Oregon Trout, in a letter to the editor of The Daily Oregonian newspaper incorrectly stated "Nobody realizes any value from hatchery fish, other than the sports and commercial fisherman." We of course can prove that these fish bring millions of dollars to Oregon and our local communities.

We want to emphasize the importance and benefit of the Trask hatchery. The operating cost of the Trask hatchery is minimal compared to the huge economic benefit to Tillamook County and the State of Oregon.

We thank the Legislature for their past support and urge continued support for this vitally important program. Our community truly depends on the this hatchery program!

Please do not close the Trask river fish hatchery.

Sincerely,
Jerry Dove and Jim Woods
Board of Directors, Tillamook Anglers.

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I think I am going to do what Bob at www.piscatorialpursuits.com did with a letter like this. I am going to make you able to sign it on a form, so that we may present many copies, signed by all of you dedicated Tillamook Anglers.
Would you participate?
Jen

Phillip Reed · 01-25-2002, 06:57 AM

Jen-just let me know what to do!

Jennie@ifish · 01-25-2002, 07:00 AM

You can always Write your own letter.
This is the best step.
But, if you don't have the time, and still wish to help, I will put up a form mailer that you can sign, of this letter.
I will print them out and present them To Jerry Dove of Tillamook Anglers.
He will make sure they get to the appropriate people.
Thank you very much for helping!
Jen

Bait O' Eggs · 01-25-2002, 07:46 AM

Should the state ever close the Trask Hatchery I will be sad. :depressed: I feel my roots come from that hatchery.

I am sure the statue of limitations has expired if the story has any truth to it.

My parents have never been known to stretch a story

My coming to be, began at that hatchery. (No, mom and dad didnt sneak in, and diddle in the ponds

) My dad worked at the Trask hatchery when I was born. When moms water broke and I was about to see light for the first time, dad wasnt in the house. You see the hatchery workers use to get a little benefit of fishing the closed hatchery hole after dark in June for springers. Of course this wasnt written anywhere and was one of those unstated benefits

Rumor even has it the local gammie would stop by once in a while and join in on the fun. Times have changed and this would not be tolerated in todays times. Mom had to stumble down to the river in the dark and get dad (who is fishing) to take her to the hospital. On the way, they hit a 4 point buck with the car on Chance road and break its leg. Dad had to knock on a neighbors door and borrow a gun to put the buck out of its misery. I arrived at the hospital 10 minutes after mom and dad did. :grin:

To this date I still call the Trask my home river as I like to fish it because I know it better.

I am gonna write and ask the state to keep the hatchery open, I havent completed my spawning run yet. Well, maybe my spawing run is over, but I still plan to try and swim up river and try to spawn again. :tongue:

Please write a letter.

Amerman · 01-25-2002, 09:01 AM

To Jennie and all others

Don't forget that the Trask hatchery is also the current place we are running our Wilson River broodstock program. We had to fight for so long to get a program like this going it would be sad to see it go just as it is starting to work. It is also the Place where all the Wilson river hatchery spring Chinook come from. I just wanted everyone to know these things in addittion to the all the other Trask and Tillamook bay impacts of clsoing the Hatchery that others have talked about.

Point-of-Sale Clerk · 01-25-2002, 09:44 AM

Dear State Representative

Regardless of your position on the long-term capabilities of hatcheries to aid in salmon recovery, I would like to ask that all funding currently being considered for hatcheries be granted with the stipulation that effective monitoring and evaluation of hatchery programs with respect to their success or failure be conducted from now on. I also ask that this monitoring and evaluations by ODFW be conducted under strict external peer review as recommended by an external management review of ODFW.

We have come to a point in our history when many have come to feel that our current policies toward salmon recovery do not address the biological and scientific reasons for salmonid decline. New data not only indicates that previous policies did not help native salmon but also may have hastened indigenous salmonid reductions. Regardless of your personal opinion, as a state Legislator, you are charged with ensuring that public funds are spent in a correct and legitimate manner. Although this issue is fraught with the perils of modern politics we must proceed in a way to ensure future generations that we did our best at this time to protect our valuable natural resource.

Hatcheries may have been a good political solution but biologically they have been run in a haphazard and irresponsible manner. Rewarding the false assumptions surrounding Oregon�s hatchery program with continued and unstipulated funding harms property owners, sport fishermen, and Oregon�s indigenous fishes equally.

In the future, we may come to understand that the best hatchery is a closed hatchery. How long it takes us to learn that is up to you�

Thank you

(*** Clerk)

Jennie@ifish · 01-25-2002, 09:45 AM

Right on, Scott.
This makes me angry, sad, passionate, and I'm going to do everything in my power to help.
I am waiting to hear back from Bob, to get some code to do one of those form letters, or get my CGI guy to help.
I have it all written, it just doesn't work right!
:smile: I'm not a genious at all.. :depressed:

Soon.... Soon it will be up.
Scott, we should add something about that to the letter.
Jen

ssteelheadsteve · 01-25-2002, 02:46 PM

The first person you must convince that the Trask Hatchery must stay open is the Dist. Bio.
According to ODF&W their indicator streams in the tillamook basin tell them that the Fall Salmon Population is in excellent shape thanks to high counts of outmigrants.The other species are rather insignificant to ODF&W.My spawning count survey's of the last 26 years tell me the Trask in particular is not producing nearly as many returning adults as in years past.
Good Luck to all concerned..........

garyk · 01-25-2002, 05:25 PM

Think former county commissioner Jerry Dove will ever write a letter asking for better timber-cutting rules so that important salmon producers like the Trask Watershed aren't ***** by massive strip-cutting and won't run brown after a spit of rain? Nah, didn't think so.