Predation, and the known solutions to it, have been known and implemented since at least the late 80's. At that time, WDF stopped shooting birds because they were just doing what they were programmed to do. Instead, netting and covers to rearing vessels were installed. That means that 25 years of knowledge and practice got ignored. And, as a fish cultures, you couldn't tell that you were feeding 300-500K less fish? Tacoma should look into the massive waste of food as well as DOE for the deliberate pollution of the Cowlitz by throwing all that excess food in.

I find in interesting that the head of the Fish Program, who came up through Hatcheries (working in the ponds, spawning the fish, rearing the fish) was not at the hearing defending the actions. Rather, folks who "manage" them were there.

That takes us back to the gist of my question. Exactly how was 2016 significantly different than all of the prior years? The fish density theory simply didn't fly with me (pun intended) and if there was truly such a huge, disproportionate loss compared to prior years and the birds did it - why wasn't that bird activity observed by staff?

Will we ever have a supportable explanation? Probably not.

Staff wasn't watching... Too few staff. Staff at other facilities in the Complex because they were short-staffed.

If they are actually short of staff, a quick fix would be to take those scientific folks studying the nesting habits of the Yellow Billed Cuckoos ( which my Audubon books say their are few to none) could either be released from WDFG to do something personally more satisfying or moved to some project our license fees are supposed to support, like hatchery support. Just my $.02.

The way it seems to work now, you do only the tasks paid for. Say your job is to monitor/count/ID salmonid smolts. That does not include counting or ID'ing sculpins, dace, lamprey, amphibians.

One's position/tasks are narrowly defined. This is why, often, the samplers who do salmon ignore rockfish and vice-versa.

Maybe I'm confused but I thought that the Cowlitz steelhead hatchery is a mitigation hatchery funded by Tacoma City Light for impacts from their dams. If so isn't the funding source outside of Fish and Wildlife and General funds - no reason (at budget reason) to be shorted staff for any extended period of time .

Curt

Even with the extremely low bar already set, a public utility is hardly going to be more efficient or effective than a government run agency. Maybe by a half measure, but not by much. KPI's and personnel performance metrics are foriegn concepts to both - as are proper staffing levels. Doing less with more is the saying. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Tacoma Light ran off a skeleton crew.

None of it is acceptable. My guess is that someone REALLY screwed up and accidentally killed the fish and the agencies are trying to cover their tracks. You just don't lose 300 - 500K fish. I'm a firm believer that the longer it takes someone to come forward with a problem or issue, the more likely fvckery is afoot. Gotta have the time to formulate the excuse.

But...but...but...the birds ate them!

Money isn't the issue. TP spends $4,000,000 or so per year funding the Cowltiz hatcheries. Staffing shouldn't be an issue.

If the electronic fish counters are unreliable, which is common with that kind of equipment, how does WDFW know how many fish they are short? Does WDFW know how many steelhead and cutthroat were produced and released in any of the years since the electronic counters were installed?

This is my favorite comment in this entire thread.

And I agree wholeheartedly. I also don't think state taxpayers should bear any of the financial burden in fixing this mess. It should come out of TPU's pockets and any state funded hatchery staff that were paid to monitor those fish should be released and/or relocated.

Absolutely on point. This really sheds doubt on all of the prior release numbers and could well explain - at least in part - poor rate of return numbers.

During the hearing Sen. Pearson delved into the counter reliability and WDFW explained that the Cowlitz hatchery outflow with counter is unique to their hatchery system.

That said, the counter was reported to have been calibrated as in prior years so any errors in 2016 should have been consistent with prior years.

From today's Dully Zero " We've gone from being one of the first states taking action with one of the highest aquatic invasive species budgets to being one of the poorest funded programs". This from a WDFW staffer.

But, for those with memories longer than the last Twitter cycle, WDF (W) used to be the world leader in hatchery operation, nutrient enhancement (ecosystem needs), lowland lake/OD management, and probably a few other activities. The above quote applies to them, too.

This is a long shot, but why not speculate, this is the internet-

Seems to me there is very little security at Blue Creek. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks it could be possible that an environmental extremest could simply open the gates early and let those fish out prior to them being mature, thus killing them.

It happened at Tokul Creek (but it helped them), why couldn't it happen here.

There are lots of people cheering the fact that a bunch of Hatchery fish are dead, I don't think its a stretch to think some fanatical person could have single handedly killed a bunch of hatchery fish.

My questions are....

300K fish die an nobody notice an extra amount of dead fish laying in the ponds? (seems fair even if there are some birds around)

What security measures are in place at this facility? Camers? Fences? Locks?

What kind of investigation was done?

If WDFW cannot count fish in a pond, how confident can we be with the estimates in Rivers, Lakes, Sound, and the Ocean?

One has to wonder....

As far as I'm concerned they should put the guy who raises all the pheasants and plants them in charge of raising and planting the fish.

At least when people show up to hunt them they are always there.

Our fisheries are a train wreck.
Heads should roll.

Brett, rest assured no WDFW heads will roll in corrupt Region 5.

Biggest bunch of retards and liars that I have ever seen, this going at least twenty years. From Wolfe Dammers to pig nose Cindy and feckless Lee Van T. Screw the pooch on the job you were assigned, it's all good, no one will notice and we don't care if they should. We are un-elected power brokers and in totally in charge so don't even think you can suggest that we should be held accountable for the actions that we feel are needed to save the wild salmon from extinction.

"Screw the pooch on the job you were assigned, it's all good, no one will notice and we don't care if they should."


I guess the only question that remains is what the hell are we gonna do with all the pups?

I was wading through the Senate Natural Resources and Parks Committee postings and found WDFW's presentation for those who may be interested: https://app.leg.wa.gov/CMD/Handler.ashx?...&att=false.