Rock Creek Hatchery manager calls foul!

[Straydog]

More on the hatchery costs audit....

http://www.oregonnews.com/apps/pbcs....1250006&Ref=AR

[Artwo]

"Meyer said the cost of an Umpqua River chinook salmon reflected by the audit can't be correct.
"I don't raise fall chinook smolts," he said. "We raise fertile eggs for hatch boxes on the South Umpqua River. That's mostly a volunteer effort. The money we spend to produce those smolts is very minimal. It's a minute part of my budget."
Meyer said the formula used to calculate the cost was confidential. He's unsure what numbers were used. He said the hatchery's cost involves only collecting the brood stock and performing the spawning. And volunteers from the Umpqua Fisherman's Association help with that. He said there's no cost for fish food, and no rearing space is used at the hatchery."

I'm courious as to why the "formula used to calculate the cost" is confidential..................could it be that someone is trying to hide something about the audit............Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Also, how could someone put out an audit that did not accurately describe that actual operations of a certain hatchery and come up with a price/lb. number for a species that is not reared at their facility...........................can you say bogus.

JK

[Miss B Haven]

Maybe it's the same Audit firm Enron and Worldcom used? Quick- burn the fish books! :shocked:

[Brine]

Good stuff. Our departing Governor is such an anti-hatchery kinda guy, that any report showing negative impacts by hatcheries was rushed through the machine. THe concept of an audit is a good enough idea, as hatchery manager Meyer suggested, but it needs to be done in a less partisan manner. Let us see what the next Governor has in store for us.

[SlimPickens]

From what I saw of the audit report, they included all the administrative costs from handling the program in Portland, etc. Not really the true cost of producing the fish, but shows the high administrative cost for ODFW. Too much money spent on paperwork, oversight!

On grants for fish projects, they typically withhold 30% of the grant for administrative costs. Ridiculous. A big part of the money is never used for fish stuff. Seems like government should be finding ways to reduce these costs, especially with huge budget shortfalls.