Already done Dave, I have been posting about this for at least a year and nobody believes it. :depressed: :depressed: :depressed:
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Three or more Northwest fish hatcheries could be closed soon unless there's an increase in federal money for Columbia River Mitchell Act hatcheries in 2003. This year's funding for Mitchell Act hatcheries amounted to $16.7 million, said R.Z Smith of NOAA Fisheries.
Discussions are underway to determine which hatcheries should be closed if funding is not increased. The preliminary list calls for closing Elochoman River Hatchery, Skamania Hatchery and Carson Hatchery, all in Washington.
Private groups such as the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association are lobbying Congress to increase the 2003 budget to nearly $21 million. Smith said a funding level of $40 to $50 million is justified, but out of reach. However, a grass roots effort is underway to develop regional consensus for a "bottom-up" budget plan by the state, federal, and tribal fish agencies for the 2005 budget.
The Senate didn't support the budget boost for federal hatcheries, so lobbying efforts are now aimed at the House. Mary Gautreaux, spokesperson for Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), said her boss tried to get more funding, but there simply isn't any money available. Back in April, fourteen members of the House and six members of the Senate requested an increase for next year's Mitchell Act hatchery funding.
Since the 1930s, when the Mitchell Act was passed to fund hatcheries as a form of compensation for dam construction on the Columbia River, the budget has been based on information provided by lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Since federal agencies are not allowed to lobby for a specific funding amount, they must be invited by Congress to provide a budget proposal. Fish agencies and tribes hope for a consensus this fall on a budget built from the "bottom-up" by the agencies and the public. With this regional consensus, it's then possible to request an invitation from Congress for NOAA Fisheries to provide a budget request that meets the needs of the hatchery program. The plan is to begin discussions in September for this new budget.
Fish supporters have had to remind the federal government of its obligation. In an April letter to Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) , the Pacific Fisheries Management Council didn't beat around the bush.
"Continuous level funding for Mitchell Act hatcheries represents a broken federal promise to mitigate for salmon losses due to federally sanctioned development projects not otherwise covered in mitigation agreements," said the council. "Nearly a decade of level funding has caused the closure of seven hatchery facilities, and together with reductions in others, a 40-percent reduction in the number of juvenile salmon released."
Level funding cannot support all existing programs under the Mitchell Act umbrella, said Smith.
The bottom-up budget under development would provide adequate funding for hatchery operations and maintenance, fish marking, hatchery improvements and rehabilitation, research, and new initiatives, but some fish advocates support only part of that menu.
Oregon Trout's Jim Myron and Tom Wolf of Trout Unlimited said their organizations support increased funding for fish marking and research, but don't advocate increased hatchery production. "We don't need to increase hatchery production, we need to decrease conflicts between wild and hatchery fish in the Columbia River and the ocean," Myron said.
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Due to uncertain Mitchell Act funding, 500,000 coho yearlings will be transferred four months early from the Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery to net pens in Young’s Bay near the mouth of the Columbia River. The net pens, operated by the Clatsop Economic Development Council, provide fish for the valuable Young’s Bay commercial gill net fishery, which generates as much as $500,000 in economic benefits each year to local fishermen.
Staff from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife began transferring the fish by truck on Monday, December 15, 2003, and are scheduled to continue through Thursday, December 18, 2003. Transferring the yearlings early is not expected to reduce their chances of survival. They will be reared in the net pens until their normal release time in Spring 2004.
Another 500,000 coho yearlings being raised for the Young’s Bay fishery will remain at Eagle Creek hatchery until March 2004, when they will be transferred on schedule to the net pens for acclimation to the bay. In April 2004, both groups of fish will be released so they can head to sea to mature.
The early transfer of coho to the net pens is the first of several actions the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may need to take to address a projected Mitchell Act shortfall that could reach $350,000 in Fiscal Year 2004. Eagle Creek NFH is one of five FWS hatcheries operated with Mitchell Act funds. Thirteen other Mitchell Act hatcheries, operated by the states of Oregon and Washington, also may be impacted by a lack of money allocated under the Act.
“These hatcheries already are underfunded so the prospect of flat funding or an actual decrease is forcing us to make some pretty tough decisions,” said Dan Diggs, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Assistant Regional Director for Fishery Resources. “After careful consideration we determined that transferring these coho ahead of schedule would have the least impact on fisheries in the region.”
Mitchell Act money for the 2004 fiscal year, which began October 1, 2003, is uncertain because the U.S. Senate recessed for the Holidays without acting on Mitchell Act funding. The budget version approved by the U.S. House of Representatives before the recess held Mitchell Act funding for hatchery operations at its 2003 level of $11.3 million.
With the 2004 fiscal year already nearly three months old, Diggs said he had no choice but to start taking action. Federal budget rules do not allow him to use other fishery money to pay for Mitchell Act programs. The early transfer of coho yearlings to Young’s Bay allows him to reassign one full-time position funded under the Mitchell Act.
Later this month, Diggs also may authorize the early release of 1 million coho yearlings from Willard National Fish Hatchery in Washington. The release of these fish four months early will reduce their ability to survive to adulthood, Diggs said, but it will enable him to preserve important mitigation and restoration programs in the mid-Columbia River and meet treaty trust responsibilities to the tribes. It will also allow him to transfer a full-time position from Willard NFH to another program not funded under the Mitchell Act.
The Willard fish, which are tagged, will be monitored to determine their survival rate.
The National Marine Fisheries Service administers the Mitchell Act, which was passed by Congress to mitigate for salmon losses attributed to Federal dams in the Columbia River Basin. The amount of money allocated for Mitchell Act hatchery operations has remained flat since 1995, despite increasing hatchery responsibilities and operations costs.
Representatives of Oregon, Washington, local tribes and fishing communities are working to secure adequate funding for Mitchell Act hatcheries, which are important sources of salmon for fisheries. Budget shortfalls have prompted the Fish and Wildlife Service to give notice to the Clatsop Economic Development Council that it is phasing out its production of coho for the Young’s Bay fishery. Diggs said that legal obligations to produce salmon for Indian treaty fisheries supercede the Service’s obligation to produce fish for the Young’s Bay fishery.
“There’s just not enough money to keep doing both,” Diggs said, “although that’s what we want to do.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 542 National Wildlife Refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 National Fish Hatcheries, 64 Fishery Resource Offices and 81 Ecological Services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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[ 01-12-2004, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: Uglygreen ]
Alert-Feds release 1 Million smolts to likely
TheRogue
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