I swear, fishermen are worse than an old ladies gossip koffee klatch when it comes to rumors about fish. Cut the Cowlitz hatchery hysteria already! And stop making up stories, for criminny sakes, boys. I don’t know who from WDFW was speaking to the PSA chapter, but he didn’t have his Cowlitz facts straight. Settle down and ingest some straight forward information from sources at Tacoma, a consultant working on the project, and agency contacts.

Tacoma operates its Cowlitz River dams under a federal license. The original 50 year license expires next year. The federal power act requires that they obtain a new license. They are seeking a 40 year license in their recent application. (Relicenses can vary from 30 to 50 years.)

Those of you for whom the Cowlitz fish hatcheries are more near and dear than your women and children, please take heart. The hatcheries will not disappear. Hatcheries will be on the Cowlitz scene, if not forever, then, at least for the next 40 years. Recovery efforts of wild fish are being undertaken upstream of the dams as you read this. For ESA listed chinook and steelhead, this is mandatory, but coho are included in this plan, also. Again, the hatchery will not be closed. If it was, where would the fish come from for recovery? Remember, there are no wild salmon and steelhead left above the dams, until the last couple years, anyway. The hatcheries are absolutely essential for both recovery of listed and future wild stocks upstream of the dams and to continue to provide mitigation for the adverse impacts of the dams on fish, like flooding nearly 40 miles of river under the impoundments.

Yes, there will be changes at the hatcheries. Major ones at the salmon hatchery. According to some of the WDFW folks, the salmon hatchery has been a disease problem for many years. The renovation should allow the production of healthier smolts that might actually survive to return to the river, unlike the overwhelming majority of those presently produced. Most likely, hatchery production will have to be cut back during the remodel. This is common practice at other facilities during construction projects. But maintaining sufficient production to return broodstock requirements and the supplementation for the recovery program are high priorities. Less extensive work is planned down at the trout hatchery, but some salmon production may be moved there on a temporary basis. Some small satellite facilities may also be set up to relieve some of the pressure during construction. Those facilities will probably continue to be available after the remodel as well.

Hatchery production in the new license term will be reduced from present levels. I was given three reasons. 1) ESA restricts the release of hatchery fish that may interfere with recovery of listed fish; 2) the remodeled hatchery is expected to produce healthier smolts that will survive at a higher rate and sustain expected levels of adult returns; 3) the recovery of wild fish in the upper river will reduce Tacoma’s hatchery mitigation obligation (for every wild fish that returns, the hatchery obligation goes down by one).

The fishery of the future will be different. Wild fish will be present. The release of wild fish is likely to be required while runs are rebuilding and if the fishing pressure is likely to harvest more than the runs can withstand. Hmmm, that’s just like on other wild fish rivers. The early winter Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead program is likely (no decision yet) to be reduced or phased out. There is a potential conflict with the late winter native steelhead, which are ESA listed. So late winter steelhead production is being increased to assist the recovery. Hatchery summer run production may be reduced (again, no decision yet) but not eliminated. Coho will be reduced because the smolts eat wild chinook smolts, and there may not be sufficient fisheries in the future to harvest the potential production. There were 46,000 coho back to the hatchery last fall and winter. The big commercial fisheries seem to be a thing of the past, and the recreational fishery can only harvest so much. I think there will be an effort to restore wild fall chinook production in the lower main Cowlitz River, kind of like the N.F. Lewis River, but it needs more study and won’t be happening any time soon.

The point about guides moving to other rivers may be legitimate. They've been doing that already, whenever a Cowlitz run is in the doldrums. That's the nature of the guide business. I remember when lots of them used to be on the Skagit. They make their living from a public resource by providing service. In so doing, they accept whatever risks attend the fish runs they work. I doubt they will leave the Cowlitz for long. The intent of the new license is to improve the fish runs, not make them worse. And speaking of, except for coho, they can't get much worse than the last few years. I admit to not fishing there as much as I did 5 or more years ago.

So, enough of the hand wringing and hysteria about closing the hatcheries and a fishless desert in the Cowlitz River. Be advised that Tacoma remains on the hook. Tacoma will pay for all hatchery remodel work, the ongoing O&M of the hatcheries, upstream and downstream fish passage around the dams, the ESA recovery program, and recreational campgrounds, trails, and so forth. Tacoma’s expenses during the next license term are going to be higher than their present costs. So Koenings and the other directors didn’t give away the farm, hatchery, resource; well, you get the idea.

Sleep well. The Cowlitz will still be around.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.