Good pick up here Sky-Guy...and for those of you who want to see another article on this topic:
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/2008090...almie.steelhead

Just came out today here's the read if the link doesn't work:
Published: Thursday, September 4, 2008

The end of Snoqualmie steelhead?
By Wayne Kruse,
Herald Writer

Lose the Tokul Creek Hatchery and lose recreational steelhead fishing on the Snoqualmie River system. It could be as simple as that.

Or not, but it sure feels that way to this longtime observer of state fishery management and bureau-speak.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is soliciting public participation in two meetings this month to discuss "proposed operation changes at the Tokul Creek Hatchery." After a long talk with the agency's Region 4 (Mill Creek) fish program manager, Annette Hoffmann, I was left with no real reason to believe the proposal does not mean the end of sport steelheading on the Snoqualmie.

Under the proposed plan, still being discussed with the tribes, the department could reduce the hatchery's steelhead production by 10 to 20 percent and shift the remaining production -- 150,000 winter fish -- to another state hatchery in the watershed; eliminate about 20,000 steelhead plants annually in the Tolt; and/or eliminate about 20,000 steelhead plants annually in the Raging.

The proposed changes, according to the state, are to meet requirements under the Endangered Species Act, and are consistent with the 2008 Statewide Steelhead Management Plan to support naturally spawning fish populations. The proposal is also consistent with the 2008 Statewide Steelhead Management Plan and recommendations from the Hatchery Scientific Review Group.

That's some pretty heavy artillery. Is it reasonable to believe the "proposed operational Changes at the Tokul Creek Hatchery" are not already set in concrete?

I don't know.

Even more disturbing is the agency's statement that "these changes could allow for all or part of the Snoqualmie watershed to be designated a 'wild steelhead management zone' that would be managed exclusively for wild fish. The zone is (not "would be") intended to help increase production of the river system's wild steelhead populations by minimizing the number of competing hatchery fish on the spawning grounds.'"

If wild steelhead management on the Snoqualmie system is already a done deal -- and that's just a possibility at this point, granted -- then any recreational fishing would be on "surplus" wild-stock fish, somewhere years down the line. If ever.

Hoffmann insisted the plan for the Snoqualmie is still fluid, still to be decided. She said there could still be fishing for hatchery steelhead on various parts of the system, while reserving other portions -- maybe the Tolt and Raging tributaries -- as a wild-fish gene bank.

But she also mentioned that one possible reason to keep the Tokul Creek facility operational, at least for a while, was "to collect returning brood stock in order to remove them from the system."

So after all those dirty old hatchery steelhead have been removed from the system, would the hatchery be kept open? Closed? Switched to other functions?

Hoffmann said that was still to be decided.

The agency's chief of salmon and steelhead management, Heather Bartlett in Olympia, said "We are improving hatchery operations statewide to help support naturally spawning fish populations. The proposed changes at Tokul Creek are part of that broad conservation effort aimed at restoring wild salmon and steelhead stocks while continuing to provide sustainable fishing opportunities on hatchery fish."

No one can be against wild steelhead enhancement. That's a given. But is Bartlett speaking straight when she says "continuing to provide sustainable fishing opportunities on hatchery fish"?

Or is the agency, again, consigning easy-to-manipulate recreational fishermen to the far end of the stick?

Close Tokul Creek and lose steelhead fishing on the Snoqualmie system? I don't know, but I sure don't like the sound of this one.

The two public meetings are scheduled for Sept. 9 at the Mill Creek office, 16018 Mill Creek Boulevard, 425-775-1311; and Sept. 11 at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, 125 West Sunset Way in Issaquah. Both meetings will run 6-8 p.m.