To my fellow steelheaders: The recent decision to not plant hatchery smolts in Puget Sound rivers this spring is something we should all be celebrating. We have been planting these rivers for decades and watched both the wild runs and the hatchery runs dwindle. To continue doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is, as they say, the very definition of insanity. Here are some reasons why this is our best shot at ANY kind of steelhead fishery in future years.

The hatcheries are not working. The run size, average fish size and quality of the angling experience are all trending downward. Why else would we call them "brats?" Of course, we adjust as our baseline expectations diminish, but from any kind of objective perspective, Puget Sound hatchery steelhead fisheries are at a low point. It's worth noting here that the actual Chambers Creek steelhead (from which our modern winter hatchery fish were created) has already gone extinct.

Cost: The hatcheries are also expensive, providing one of the lowest returns on investment of any public expenditure. A single hatchery steelhead harvested from the Nooksack River, has, in recent years, cost up to $2,400 to produce. On the Skagit, where it's a little better, the cost per harvested hatchery steelhead has been as high as $900. I can't imagine our non-fishing neighbors feeling very good about subsidizing a few people's recreation at this rate.

Science: Every major, peer-reviewed scientific study in the last decade has shown clearly that the presence of hatchery fish is a powerful detriment to wild fish recovery. When you ask WFC to spend money on "real science" or studies, I would argue the evidence is already there.

Habitat: According to recent surveys, the returns of wild fish are far below the carrying capacity of available spawning and rearing habitat in many Puget Sound rivers. While habitat has been damaged, it isn't the reason we have so few wild fish returning.

Elitism: The desire to recover wild steelhead isn't just an elitist, tree-hugging love of the beauty of wild fish. The fact is, they are our best shot at having any kind of fishery in the future. As hatchery returns trend toward zero, a healthy, sustainable (and free) run of wild steelhead provides recreational opportunities long into the future.

Proof: When Mt. St. Helens errupted, for all intents and purposes, it destroyed the Toutle River habitat with enormous flows of superheated ash and mud. The state abandoned its hatchery plants for this very reason. And yet, within seven years, there were more wild winter steelhead spawning in the Toutle than in any other lower Columbia tributary. As soon as DFW saw this and decided to "help" Mother Nature with renewed hatchery supplementation, the wild population crashed.

Proof: On the Salmon River in Oregon, the wild coho run had dwindled to a handful of returning spawners under decades of heavy hatchery supplementation. When the hatchery program was cancelled, the wild coho rebounded spectacularly (and immediately) coming back 3,500 strong within, I believe, less than four years.

Proof: Before the hatchery program on the Skagit ramped up to the massive plants we see today, the HARVEST of winter steelhead was frequently more than 20,000 fish per year. As the hatchery plants increased, instead of seeing more fish return, the downward spiral began. Today, the thought of harvesting 20,000 winter steelhead from the Skagit is beyond belief--that number represents far more than the total returns of hatchery and wild fish combined. Consider these numbers when you assess the quality of the fishery we have after decades of hatchery "supplementation."

Conclusion: Sure, we can continue to blame ocean conditions and plastic ingestion (neither of which we can do much about in the near term) or lack of freshwater habitat (not true) or pollution in the Sound, or commercial harvest, or tribal gillnets...but it's entirely possible, and even likely, that it's our hatcheries themselves that are causing the lack of fish.

Will we see the mind-blowing recoveries of wild fish like we've witnessed on the Toutle or the Salmon? That I cannot guarantee. But I do know that it's our best shot--and perhaps the only one we can actually control--for strong, healthy Puget Sound steelhead fisheries. Let's stop doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Celebrate the fact that we're on the brink of trying something new, something based on solid science, something that gives us a chance at quality fishing. This should be the best news any steelheader has heard in the last 30 years.

Skookum