We dearly need your help more than ever for us to keep our fishing livelihood alive for us and future generations. Please read and sign.
Our organizations have been fighting to save our hatcheries that were built for mitigation for lost habitat and to have dams for power.
Please help us help ourselves and sign the petition. It is time to stick together more than ever,
Ron Garner

http://www.saveourhatcheries.org/petition/save-hatchery-programs/

Done

I tried for a week non stop to get through to Patty Murrays office for her to pressure NOAA/NMFS to expedite the Steelhead HGMPs. I have many friends in all fishing aspects and one came through for us. We have reached out to everyone to help us. Tribes, sports groups, and even commercial fishing groups. The tribes are engaging with us.

The Ocean Commercial Fisheries stepped up and supported us with letters from the trollers to the commercial crabbers, to get the HGMPs passed to keep our hatcheries open. The last great act, with time running out, was a friend Greg Mueller, the executive director of Washington Trollers Association.

At wits end and very beat at this point, a long time friend that we have dealt with for ocean fisheries called me to go over ocean issues. After going over fisheries issues I told him that I was not getting through to Patty Murrays office and she was the only hope that we had to force NOAA to put more staff on so as not to run the clock out on Steelhead. After a week on not getting through I was getting hopeless.

Greg told me that he had a meeting with Murrays staff in two days and to get him the info. He had an hour and a half and did not need all of it to go through the issue they were dealing with. I sent it to Greg and went over it with him and he carried the message forward for us. A Coastal Commercial entity tried to help us with the Puget Sound Steelhead. I am forever grateful. I had one of Murrays staff finally get back to me too, so I was able to get this message through at two shots.

Hatcheries are being blamed when Seals and Sealions are wiping out our fish.
Greg brought this up to Murrays staff.

55% of the Strait of Georgia chinook and coho are being eaten by harbor seals
There are now 40,000 harbor seals in the Strait of Georgia

The US side of the Salish Sea has 20,000 Harbor seals and Long Live the Kings has a study that is showing the same thing. They are eating our salmon and steelhead.

These studies only show harbor seals and does not account for the sea lions.

There was a tagging study done for steelhead in the South Sound. Out of every 10 steelhead tagged, between 8 and 9 of the tages ended up found in seal scat!

But hatcheries are being blamed as the culprit. The coast has the same problems with the sealions.

My letter to Murray




Subject: Please contact NMFS to Expedite HGMPs. Last chance to save one of our hatchery systems!

Dear Senator Murray:

I am contacting you on behalf of Puget Sound Anglers, the largest sport fishing/conservation club in Washington State, consisting of 16 chapters state wide and thousands of members. We have been working in cooperation with other sport fishing groups, coastal commercial fishery associations, Puget Sound Indian tribes, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)to save the Puget Sound early winter hatchery steelhead program that has been in existence for more than 60 years, benefiting sport and tribal fisheries. Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), an anti-hatchery group based in Duvall, Washington, is seeking to shut down this hatchery program as well as other steelhead and salmon hatcheries through litigation. Your office was provided a copy of the attached January 26, 2016 letter from Washington State senators to Mr. Daniel Ashe, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Ms. Eileen Sobeck, Assistant Administrator For Fisheries, NOAA Fisheries. The state senate letter fully describes the issues and likely ramifications of not receiving by April 1, 2016 federal approval of the five Hatchery Genetic Management Plans (HGMPs) that comprise the existing Puget Sound early winter hatchery steelhead program . I discussed this with Mr. David Hodges of your Vancouver, WA office on Tuesday, February 16, 2016.

Because the clock is close to running out, we urgently ask that your office contact today, Ms. Sobeck and Mr. Will Stelle-NOAA-Fisheries Regional Administrator, West Coast Region, requesting that NOAA-Fisheries expedite their existing work schedule for the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for this program as well as completion of the Record of Decision such that the five HGMPs are approved by no later than April 1. While the regional office has added some staff, this has not been enough to expedite the schedule. More are required. Specifically, we are asking that Mr. Rob Jones and Ms. Alison Purzell, of the respective Portland, OR and Lacey, WA. NOAA-F offices, be assigned immediately to join other staff now working on the approval documents. Also, we ask that overtime be authorized as needed. Our deepening concern is that NOAA Fisheries will not complete the federal approval process in time to release by May 1 more than 600,000 steelhead smolts from five hatcheries serving the Dungeness, Nooksack, Stillaguamish, Skykomish, and Snoqualmie watersheds, when those juvenile steelhead are physically ready to be released into their respective rivers. If released much later than May 1, the smolts will residualize and not migrate to the ocean to become adult steelhead. That would mean there would be no steelhead broodstock returning in two or three years. Because of WFC litigation in 2014 this is the third and final year without smolts releases. Approval by April 1 is required to allow federal, state, and tribal attorneys time to respond to anticipated WFC litigation following federal approval of the HGMPs.

Washington’s steelhead and salmon hatcheries are under growing attacks through-out the state, including most recently the Mitchell Act Columbia River Basin hatcheries. Our NOAA West Coast Regional Administrator, Will Stelle, is leaving his position shortly. Our NOAA Assistant Regional Administrator Bob Turner may be retiring soon. Please make sure that they take care of the early winter Puget Sound hatchery steelhead program before they go. In a House hearing Mr. Jim Scott, special assistant to the WDFW director, told the Washington House Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee that our coastal hatchery system fisheries are worth $9 Billion and the Puget Sound and Strait fisheries worth $2 Billion, annually. That provides a sense of the economic impact of our hatchery programs. The social and culture values are incalculable. Salmon is one of our special northwest icons that attracts millions of visitors each year. We want this to be part of the northwest scene for future generations. Without hatcheries our fisheries will pretty much end.

Thank you so much for your consideration of our request and assisting us and affected Puget Sound Indian Tribes in this critical mater. This steelhead hatchery failure will lead and set precedence for the fall of the rest of our hatcheries in Washington State. We are all in this together and cannot afford to let this pave the road to the failure of Tribal Treaty Rights we have with the tribes.

Sincerely yours,
Ron Garner
President-Puget Sound Anglers State Board
President-PSA Education, Fisheries, and Conservation Chapter
NOAA Puget Sound Rockfish Board member
WDFW Puget Sound Crab Advisor
WDFW Puget Sound Shrimp Advisor
WDFW Coastal and Puget Sound Halibut & Bottomfish Advisor
NW Straits Derelict Gear Advisor
Fish NW Board Member

CC: Jim Unsworth, Director, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Randy Kinley, Lummi Indian Tribe, Ray Fryberg, Tulalip Indian Tribe
WDFW Commission, Senator Kirk Pearson, Congressman Denny Heck,
Congressman Derek Kilmer

Thank You

Great job Ron!

Much appreciated

DONE----Thanks for your hard work Ron.

Signed and sent.

Ron,

Your tireless efforts in keeping our fisheries intact are amazingly unselfish and a true tribute to how much you care about these issues.

I know that you don't do this for the kudos but any fisher that wets a line in our salt owes a nod toward your diligence, efforts and selflessness!

Sincerely, David Montoya

Done. Will share links with my contacts. Thanks for all your work, Ron.

Dave Croonquist

Done - thanks for the hard work we all benefit from!

Done.

Ron you along with others on this board deserve a big THANKS! The hours you guys unselfishly donate on behalf of recreational fishermen is truly appreciated!

Done.

Thanks for all you do for our fisheries Ron. Mike

Done!

Great letter, Ron...I appreciate it.

Fish on...

Todd

Done. Girlfriend signed it and family too. One million thanx!!!

Signed, AWESOME, Thank you

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell
Washington


For Immediate Release
February 23, 2016
Contact:
Bryan Watt (Cantwell)
(202) 224-8277

With West Coast Salmon Hatcheries Under Threat, Cantwell Demands Accountability From National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

Agency’s bureaucratic delays leave majority of Washington salmon hatcheries vulnerable to lawsuits and closures

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today demanded accountability from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for bureaucratic delays in the agency that threaten the viability of Washington’s salmon hatcheries.

The agency has failed to approve Hatchery Genetic Management Plans—which are required for salmon hatcheries to comply with the Endangered Species Act. Without approved plans, Washington’s salmon hatcheries are left vulnerable to lawsuits and closures.

So far NOAA has only approved 52 out of 391 Hatchery Genetic Management Plans. Cantwell pressed the agency on the lack of approvals.

“Do you think this is a challenge, that we that don’t have plans reviewed by NOAA?” Cantwell asked.

Sam Rauch, NOAA Deputy Assistant Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, stated the agency was having trouble processing the plans, but is making efforts to speed up the process.

“We increased our staff such that we can increase the throughput to 55 [plans] a year...We are behind and I don’t expect that by the end of the year we will get all of them done,” said Rauch.

Cantwell continued to ask about the consequences of the delayed process and pressured NOAA to speed up the approvals.

“At 55 a year it would take us another 6 years to process those plans, and the lawsuits being brought to stop hatchery production would obviously bring havoc for the industry.”

Salmon hatcheries are a central part of the fishery management strategy in the Pacific Northwest and support fisheries by supplementing the total stock available for fishing. Washington state hatcheries contribute 28,000 jobs statewide and nearly $5 billion dollars in economic activity per year.

Many hatcheries have submitted draft Hatchery Genetic Management Plans to NOAA for review for over a decade, yet NOAA has only reviewed and approved 13% of plans.

Cantwell has consistently supported investments in conservation and recovery of salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act, including the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund which has restored more than 1,031,000 acres of essential salmon and steelhead habitat and opened 8,700 miles of streams for fish passage.

###

Great news that Sen. Cantwell is stepping up. And Sen. Murray is where???

I can tell you they got the message as I was at Senator Pearson hearing in Olympia yesterday about WFC and HGMPs.

Rob Jones of NOAA was in the back and he is charge of getting the HGMPs and Draft Environmental Impact Statement done allowing the fish to be released on time. I walked up and said Hi to him. His face was red and he told me that they had added more staff and working harder than ever to make those dates. He also added that they cannot get just anyone to do work on HGMPs.

I could tell from his expression and tone that he had probably gotten chewed on from above quite extensively. It was very apparent he was telling me to please back off! We have brought everyone down on them to get this done and they are now feeling it. We have not let allowed NOAA to try to take pressure off of this important issue. At the top (Robs Boss) have tried to downplay it at the top level. We have always come back and countered them calling them out. No one yet has said we were wrong on those dates.

If we dont save ouir fisheries, we are done. Leave no stone unturned in something this important.

Patty Murrays Staff got back with me and they have put pressure on NOAA too.

Cantwell article here...

http://www.cbbulletin.com/436108.aspx

From that article:

“It’s been over eight years since Puget Sound steelhead were listed as threatened under the ESA,” said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of the Wild Fish Conservancy. “NOAA just announced it will be another four years, making it 12 year or more in total until they have completed the final recovery plan. That’s much too long of a delay given the status of the species. Major decisions are already being made in the absence of this plan, including determinations on the levels of harm that are deemed acceptable from hatcheries, what rivers are going to be managed for wild steelhead, and which important steelhead habitats must be protected and restored.”

Editorial Comment: Maybe if WFC had sued NOAA directly rather than victimize WDFW for NOAA's sins......but it is apparent that reaching the end of the permitting process in a timely manner is not a part of the WFC agenda.