From: http://www.thereelnews.com/fish-for-fun.html

NOAA Announces Hatchery Workshops
Want to know what the feds have in mind for Puget Sound hatcheries?
A draft of a proposed federal management plan for 133 Puget Sound salmon and steelhead hatchery programs will be on the table for public review and comment in early September.
The draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on natural resource management plans for the hatchery programs will be featured at workshops where NOAA Fisheries representatives will discuss the project and answer questions from the public including fish managers, salmon and steelhead anglers, and environmentalists.
Workshop attendees may submit written comments on the DEIS at the meetings, by email to PShatcheryEIS.wcr@noaa.gov, or by USPS mail to the address provided at website http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/hatcheries/ps_deis/ps_deis.html.

Workshop Sites: (all 6 to 8 p.m.)

Port Townsend, Sept. 8 (TONIGHT)
Fort Worden State Park
Chapel - Building 24.

Lacey, Sept. 9 (TOMORROW)
Lacey Community Center
6729 Pacific Ave SE

Renton, Sept. 10 (WEDNESDAY)
17155 Maple Valley Highway

Sedro-Woolley, Sept. 11 (THURSDAY)
Community Center
703 Pacific Street

Did anybody go to the port townsend meeting?

I find it somewhat amusing that there is only ONE Federal agency who is authorized to operate a fish hatchery. And it ain't NOAA-Fisheries. It's the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

USFWS is the only Federal agency who operates and maintains fish hatcheries. NOAA can't. They just like to tell everyone else how to do it. But they have no personal experience. Nor will they ever since they have no legal authority.

NOAA actually operates a dandy fish hatchery and net-pen operation at Manchester. It is a very nice facility and quite well run.

Had a friend who went to the PT meeting. He said there were 4 sport fishers there. Not a very good showing. He said the presentation was good and NOAA is looking for individual and group letters in support of or opposition to the 4 options. The EIS is about 1600 pages. The executive summary outlines the options.

http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/hatcheries/ps_deis/ps_deis.html

The sport fishing community needs to let NOAA know what its preferences are. The deadline for comments is 5 pm, October 23.

It seems as if these meetings flew under the radar. I would have made time to attend had I know they even existed. That said, I did submit a letter to NOAA voicing my concerns on the subject. NOAA has set up an email for public input, here is the info from the link listed in the post above.

Submit comments electronically to

PSHatcheryEIS.wcr@noaa.gov
Submit written comment to:

William W. Stelle, Jr.
Regional Administrator
NMFS West Coast Region
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115

FAX: (206) 526-6426

There was a decent crowd at the Sedro Woolley meeting.

42 peopled signed in. A major interest was the WFC/WDFW settlement and what it means to the Skagit steelhead fishing for the next 12 years.

Curt

So the whole I-5 corridor gets turned into a fly flickers paradise by coercive actions by WFC and this is the only thread, with less than a full page of replies.

I'm almost sorry I was out of town when this went down as this shows how little the sports-fishers care about or are willing to really get involved in caring about their perceived passion, unless their all fly flickers!


Fishy

Everyone must have been out of town.

I spoke with Kirk Pearson about this and asked if this could be redacted and was told that he was not sure but that he was very angry about this and he would do everything he could to, stop, curtail and prevent such actions like this in the future.
Anderson should be fired for selling public resources and making deals without public input and not following policy, at the very least.

Fishy

Something . . .,

I don't see how the I-5 corridor is turned into a "fly flicker's paradise" with no steelhead programs and no steelhead seasons, unless you assume fly flickers only fish for sea run cutthroat.

The next couple winters after this season are going to be pretty grim in Puget Sound, with the only hatchery winter program being on the Sky. Yet when I think back, fishing for hatchery winter runs has been pretty poor for me in Puget Sound for quite a few years. Most of my fishing friends who fish the Skagit stopped caring about hatchery winter runs years ago, because the Skagit hatchery run, but for a couple exceptional years, has been way less productive than the wild run for the last three decades.

The Sedro meeting was attended by a few fly flickers, but the Wildcat whack 'em and stack 'em mentality was even better represented. So I'm not sure what your point is.

Sg

Hatchery fish are meant to be, in your words, whacked and stacked, itn provides opportunity, gives those that want a fish for the table, eats and should lessen the impact on "wild" fish.

Wait a couple of years when those hatchery fish are gone, then people that want to catch and kill a fish will be over on the Peninsula whacking and stacking and you'll hear the bitchin and whining start then!
Also see above post for another point of view.

Fishy

Myass,

I appreciate your alternate point of view. Problem is, it's not real. Returns of Chambers Creek hatchery winter steelhead have been poor throughout Puget Sound for years now. Better on the Sky and Snoqualmie than other rivers, but poor nonetheless. So despite a world of caring, hatchery hard work, and unlimited volunteer support and dedication, the fact is, very few of these fish return. We have a fishing season, yes, and some may call that opportunity, but contrasted to a time when significant returns of hatchery steelhead was normal, it's a very weak description of opportunity. I'm not suggesting that people stop caring about the hatchery programs, I just think it's beneficial to be realistic regarding expectations.

Somethingsmells . . .,

Yes, there are open seasons for steelhead fishing, but seriously, how many hatchery steelhead have been available to catch in PS the last few years? Don't know about you, but I can't whack, let alone stack, fish that aren't there to be caught.

Sg

SG,

I agree that hatchery fish have been surely lacking but that just magnifies how precarious the vaunted "wild" fish can be, without hatchery numbers to take the impact of fishing, "wild" fish will suffer.

Over 800,000 fishing licenses are sold in WA and some of those people want to take a hatchery steelhead home, lacking that some will resort to poaching. The WDFW has by its own policy and history has provided these hatchery fish for consumption, eliminating those fish without any input from the paying public was a huge mistake.

Has anyone taken into account how the commies or the Tribes are going to impact these dwindling stocks? They did not agree to this nor will go willingly along without some sort of mitigation.

Fishy

Fishy

Perhaps if the "paying public" was actually aware of the cost for hatchery fish on a per fish basis, things might have been shut down a long time ago. People might "want" to take home a fish, but no one "needs" to take home a fish. There are much more efficient ways to "feed" one's family.

Poachers will poach no matter the season, abundance, or penalties. You don't let criminals set policy, instead you set penalties for the act...and enforce them.

C&R fishing allows more people to enjoy the resource that is left. It never fails to amaze me that most people can only define their wildlife encounter with the death of the animal.

Something . . .,

PS wild steelhead are not suffering from fishing. Contrary to some opinions, fishing accounts for less than 4% take of wild PS steelhead. As WW mentions, poachers will poach. They always have; they always will. It's true that the tribes are not pleased with the hatchery steelhead agreement, but they don't get to transfer their steelhead fishing to the wild stock. The treaty entitlement is to "harvestable" fish, and there are few to no harvestable wild steelhead in PS.

The precarious status of wild steelhead has nothing to do with the hatchery steelhead. The status of PS wild steelhead is a function of habitat quantity and quality and marine survival rates. Just because GBL and a few likeminded individuals are convinced that it's all about the nets doesn't make them right.

Sg

The idea that people have to be able to harvest hatchery fish or they will inevitably just bonk wild ones is absurd. Poachers are poachers. I also find it humorous that the people most in need of "putting fish on the table for their family" have thousands, often tens of thousands, into a boat. Perhaps we could start a "take a piece of salmon from my freezer" program for all of the people that "need" to bonk hatchery steelhead to survive?

Good article

SPORT FISHING GROUPS, TRIBES RALLY TO DEFEND HATCHERY STEELHEAD, SALMON

Story by Terry W. Sheely

"The stepped-up attack by wild fish zealots to end nearly all state and federal steelhead and salmon hatchery programs is, after months of free-reign, running into resistance from sport-fishing organizations and treaty tribes.
The conflict escalated following 3½ hours of sometimes contentious testimony at a State Senate committee work session orchestrated by Senator Kirk Pearson, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee.
Pearson is an outspoken critic of the anti-hatchery movement and of Washington Fish and Wildlife Director Phil Anderson’s refusal to defend sport fishermen…"

SPORT FISHING GROUPS, TRIBES RALLY TO DEFEND HATCHERY STEELHEAD

And when they get the hatchery steelhead back the sports fishers will go back to cussing the tribes nets in the rivers. That's good for a laugh.

The disappointment from this fiasco was the lawsuit that leads to the out of court settlement with a minority extremist organization, whose ideals does not come remotely close to representing the 800,000 license holders in this state.

Extremist ....minority.... and in BU's case goat worshipper .

you forgot zealot... a favorite of the hack writer of that article.

A Wild Fish Conservancy spokesman confirmed during pointed questioning from Senator Pearson that the only hatcheries his group supports are hatcheries that have closed. “Those are the ones that we support,” testified Jamie Glasgow, WFC’s Director of Science, adding that in WFC’s opinion, “There is a very limited roll for hatchery production in this state.”

minority...... extremist...... point of view