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In 1969, the steelhead was declared Washington’s official “state fish.”

February 3, 2014 by adminewa Leave a Comment

Somehow this seems to mean nothing to people.  In general, when an object or living species is recognized as a iconic figure of a country, region or state, it is extremely rare if not never something of human manipulation or recreation.  Yet here we are living in a state where the steelhead is quickly becoming just that, known more as a hatchery born and originated brat that the magnificent wild creature it became on its own.

Here is the latest on what might impact next years wild steelhead season here in Puget Sound:

Wild Versus Hatchery

Lawsuit Threatened Over Largest Hatchery Steelhead Program In Puget Sound

The Wild Fish Conservancy last week served notice that it, unless changes are made within the next 60 days, will sue the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for allowing what the conservation groups says are the illegal outplantings of so-called Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead in a variety of western Washington streams.

The Conservancy says that the outplantings of domesticated hatchery fish pose risk to wild stocks that are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The hatchery fish are intended for harvest.

Since the 2007 listing of Puget Sound steelhead, WDFW steelhead hatchery programs that employ Chambers Creek stock have continued to operate without permission from the NOAA Fisheries Service, the conservation group says. The Chambers Creek fish are produced at numerous WDFW facilities across Washington.

“The science is definite in that the planting of these domesticated hatchery fish is detrimental to protected wild fish,” said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “Any release of Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead should be prohibited as incompatible with the recovery of wild Puget Sound steelhead and the perpetuation of their legacy.

“But at the very least any existing hatchery program must operate with an appropriate permit from NOAA Fisheries.”

Recent research in the Skagit River watershed confirms that Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead are mating with wild steelhead, according to the conservation group. The offspring of hatchery steelhead and wild steelhead are substantially less likely to survive in the wild, further depressing the already low numbers of wild steelhead.

The Skagit research is the latest of a growing number of studies that have concluded that the planting of domesticated hatchery steelhead has adverse effects on the health and resilience of wild steelhead, according to the Conservancy. The hatchery steelhead program of the Skagit River watershed is the largest in the Puget Sound region.

The conservation group says that, because juvenile hatchery steelhead are far larger than their wild counterparts, they prey on the juveniles of listed salmonids, compete for food, and attract predators. Hatchery facilities that block habitat and degrade water quality also cause problems for wild fish.

“WDFW has a split mandate between providing fishing opportunities and protecting wild steelhead,” Beardslee said. “Ironically, what one hand of WDFW gives, the other takes away: the publically funded fish hatcheries undermine the publically funded wild fish recovery efforts, such as habitat restoration. Fully recovered wild steelhead populations would fulfill both mandates.

The 60-day notice says that, despite that recognition, wild Puget Sound steelhead populations have declined precipitously over the past 30 years: the average region-wide abundance between 1980 and 2004 was less than 4 percent of what it was in 1900. Since being listed as threatened under the ESA in 2007, Puget Sound wild steelhead abundance has continued to decline.

The recent five-year average is less than 3 percent of what it was in 1900. In 2010, scientists from the regional science center of the NOAA Fisheries Service concluded “in our opinion. Chambers Creek steelhead have no role in the recovery of native Puget Sound steelhead.”

The unpermitted Chambers Creek steelhead hatchery programs are the sole subject of the 60-day notice letter, because rather than aiding wild steelhead, these programs harm wild steelhead and prevent their recovery, the conservation group says.

Filed Under: Emerald Water Anglers Tagged With: catch and release, Chambers Creek steelhead, Conservation, Emerald Water Anglers, hatchery, native, Puget Sound, Seattle, Skagit River, state fish, steelhead, Washington, Wild Fish Conservancy

Elwha Dam/Hatchery News

July 13, 2011 by adminewa

Seattle Times Elwha Op-Ed

Click the link above for the original article in the times, but below is the original text.  Thanks to Will Atlas, Kurt Beardslee and Rich Simms for putting together the article.  They represent Osprey Steelhead News, Wild Fish Conservancy, and Wild Steelhead Coalition, respectively.

WITH removal of the Elwha River dams scheduled to begin this summer, the river can demonstrate a new paradigm for sustainable salmon management based upon wild fish, rather than hatchery production.

The dam removal will open up about 90 miles of protected river for spawning fish. Given the amount and quality of the habitat, biologists predict tens of thousands of wild salmon and steelhead could eventually return to the Elwha River above the dams within our children’s lifetimes. The recovery will reach its full potential only if hatchery fish are removed from the Elwha.

On the Elwha we have an opportunity to restore wild salmon and steelhead to a pristine river unlike any remaining in our state. Before dam construction in 1910, the river supported robust populations of steelhead and five different species of salmon, including some of the largest chinook ever documented.

Given time and conservative harvest management, there is reason to believe that within a few decades we will see those magnificent fish return in similar numbers. Unfortunately, we are poised to squander what would otherwise be a tremendous opportunity.

Each year, Washington state releases hundreds of millions of juvenile salmon and steelhead from hatcheries to supplement sport and commercial fisheries. These releases are known to be harmful to wild stocks: interbreeding with wild fish, altering their genetic makeup and reducing the survival of their offspring; competing for space and resources; introducing disease; attracting predators; encouraging overfishing, to cite just a few deleterious impacts. Countless researchers have confirmed that hatchery programs are incompatible with healthy, abundant wild salmon and steelhead.

The stated goal of the Elwha River dam removal is to restore healthy populations of wild salmon and steelhead to the watershed. Yet despite an overwhelming body of evidence confirming the harmful impacts of hatcheries, state, federal and tribal governments have agreed upon a plan that relies heavily on hatchery supplementation. Faced with the single greatest opportunity to restore wild salmon, they’ve opted for business as usual, perpetuating a failing paradigm of replacing native fish with a man-made alternative.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, long advocates for dam removal in the watershed, have built a huge, new hatchery which will be used to plant steelhead, chinook and other salmon species, threatening the future of wild fish in the basin. These fish, bred in captivity, are no longer able to produce self-sustaining numbers of offspring when spawning in the wild. Consequently, large numbers of hatchery fish spawning in a river can greatly reduce the productivity of wild stocks.

A five-year fishing moratorium is scheduled to take effect this year, yet managers have been adamant about continuing to release hatchery steelhead and salmon into the Elwha, despite the fact that none will be caught in sport or commercial fisheries. Instead, these nonnative fish will return to spawn with the few remaining wild fish that have managed to keep a tenuous foothold below the dams.

For decades, hatchery salmon and steelhead have sustained tribal fisheries on the Elwha. Understandably, the tribe fears that without hatcheries they will no longer have opportunities to fish. While we believe strongly that the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe should have the opportunity to fish in accordance with their treaty rights, continuing to release nonnative hatchery fish in the Elwha throughout the recovery period is wrongheaded and counterproductive.

The Elwha River restoration is an opportunity to see the capacity of wild salmon and steelhead to recover without costly, ineffective hatchery intervention.

If we hope to restore the Elwha to its former glory, we must let wild fish recolonize the river naturally. For generations, the river sustained the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and, unlike many rivers in our region, the wild Elwha remains more than capable of giving life to its people and standing as a singular example of a world-class wild fish-restoration project, one that will ultimately allow wild salmon and steelhead to return to levels unthinkable in the 21st century.

It’s time we get out of the fishes’ way.

Will Atlas is chair of the Federation of Fly Fishers Steelhead Committee; Kurt Beardslee is executive director of the Wild Fish Conservancy; Rich Simms is president of the Wild Steelhead Coalition.

 

 

Filed Under: Emerald Water Anglers Tagged With: Elwha Dam, Osprey Steelhead News, Wild Fish Conservancy, Wild Steelhead Coalition

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