----- forwarded message ------
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 19:55:54 -0700
From: Teresa Binstock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: S'Klallam tribe fears extinction of salmon via hatchery closure
Tribe fears extinction of salmon
Plan to cut hatchery threatens peninsula runs, manager says
By LEWIS KAMB Tuesday, March 25, 2003
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/114018_hatch25.shtml
Tribal authorities fear threatened salmon on the Olympic Peninsula would "spiral
toward extinction" under Gov. Gary Locke'splan to close a 2-decade-old state
salmon hatchery.
The Hurd Creek Hatchery -- one of three state hatcheries targeted for closure
under Locke's proposed budget -- is a vital component of salmon recovery in
upper peninsula river systems, said Scott Chitwood, fisheries manager for the
Jamestown S'Klallam tribe. Without it, he said, "our ability to continue
recovery work is severely hampered."
State budget advisers and wildlife authorities admit they don't want to close
the programs. But a difficult budget season in which Washington faces a $2.6
billion shortfall forced them to make sacrifices, they said.
"We would not be closing these facilities if we were not under a mandate to cut
hatchery facilities," said Lew Atkins, assistant director of the state
Department of Fish and Wildlife's Fish Program.
With Locke's request that the agency trim $1.3 million from its $14.6 million
biannual general fund allotment for state hatchery programs, department
officials undertook an extensive review of its 91 hatchery facilities, Atkins
said.
But most Washington hatchery programs are protected from reductions under state
and federal legal obligations and fishery management plans, leaving only about a
dozen facilities unprotected, Atkins said.
Officials looked hard at each using a host of criteria -- from facility
condition to program effectiveness -- to select which programs to cut, Atkins
said.
Along with the Hurd Creek facility -- between Sequim and Port Townsend along a
tributary of the Dungeness River -- the department targeted the Naselle hatchery
near Grays Harbor and the Coulter Creek hatchery near Gig Harbor.
The three hatcheries would close at the end of June under Locke's budget plan.
Neither the state House or Senate has proposed budget plans yet.
Since the state took over the Hurd Creek hatchery in the early 1980s, its
primary goal has been restoring dwindling Dungeness River chinook runs.
In the mid-1990s, the hatchery introduced the "captive brood" technique -- a
program that hatches and rears wild salmon and confines them in a hatchery
environment for their entire lives -- under a short-term pilot project.
Although yields have been slow, Atkins and Chitwood said chinook returns have
showed slight increases in the Dungeness system in recent years.
Still, the Hatchery Scientific Review Group, an independent panel of scientists
established by Congress to evaluate Western Washington's hatchery programs,
recently recommended that Hurd Creek's captive brood program be replaced by
alternative methods.
All along, the program was set to end in June 2004 -- another factor that played
into the state's decision to target Hurd Creek for closure, said Jim Cahill, a
senior budget assistant for the state.
But mostly, Cahill said, "We had to find the money somewhere."
Chitwood, along with the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, finds the
state's "economic argument" in determining which hatcheries to close is more
fallacy than shrewd decision making -- especially for Hurd Creek.
The hatchery's two-year operating costs run only about $200,000, he said.
Chitwood suspects that filling the void left with Hurd Creek's closure
eventually will force authorities to increase program costs at nearby hatchery
facilities in the Dungeness and Lower Elwha River systems.
Ultimately, "that's not a good exchange," Chitwood said.
That's because Hurd Creek offers "an ideal hatchery water source" for the
Dungeness system, he said. Its water is cleaner with little fluctuation in
temperature -- ideal conditions for egg incubation and early rearing facilities
used for several river and streams in the area.
"This is why Hurd Creek is such an important component for salmon recovery
programs on the peninsula," Chitwood said. "None of the other facilities has
that kind of water quality."
Fish and Wildlife's Atkins said that despite the proposed closure, salmon egg
incubation programs will continue at Hurd Creek. He added that the intended
budget cut "doesn't preclude continued operation of the hatchery under some kind
of alternative funding" -- should the state or tribes find it.
It's unlikely to come from a small, strapped tribe like the Jamestown S'Klallam,
Chitwood said. "And we've not yet been invited to any discussions on the future
of Hurd Creek -- if there is a future," he added.
Even if the hatchery somehow survives the governor's cuts, another threat
lingers for Hurd Creek.
Last week, two conservationist groups filed suit to halt the Department of Fish
and Wildlife from releasing hatchery fish into Puget Sound, contending that such
strains harm endangered native salmon, and thus are illegal under the federal
Endangered Species Act. The groups seek an injunction to halt such releases from
30 state hatchery programs -- including Hurd Creek.
P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 206-448-8336 or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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