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http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/11/19/fish-fight-wild-vs-hatchery
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/11/19/fish-fight-wild-vs-hatchery
From the Yakima Herald-Republic Online News.
Posted on Friday, November 19, 2010
Fish fight: wild vs. hatchery
By Phil Ferolito
Yakima Herald-Republic
PROSSER -- Joe Blodgett strips eggs from a wild female coho at the Prosser Hatchery and places them into a plastic strainer.
Hatchery workers then fertilize the eggs by hand before shipping them to Eagle Creek Hatchery in Estacada, Ore., south of Portland, where they will be raised and eventually released into the upper Yakima River.
Headed by the Yakama Nation, this fish restoration effort has put thousands of coho back into the Yakima River -- where they once were extinct -- contributing to a rare coho fishing season last fall.
Other fish runs have met with similar success in the Columbia River basin, where fall and spring chinook recently returned in record numbers.
But now, in a controversial move, the National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing to limit hatchery fish in order to rebuild wild fish populations, concluding that the latter are stronger and more productive.
Not so fast, say biologists for the Yakama Nation.
Although the Yakamas favor wild fish, they say hatcheries provide enough fish for harvesting while wild runs are being rebuilt. Any move at this time to reduce hatchery fish, they say, would undo years of restoration work and greatly diminish fishing for both tribal fishermen and sports enthusiasts.
"It's going to have big impacts, and we're not convinced that it's necessary," said Steve Parker, one of the Yakama Nation's leading fish biologists, referring to a draft environmental impact statement recently drawn up by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Some say reducing the number of hatchery fish will even lead to fights on the water as fishermen crowd the fisheries in the tributaries.
"Physical fights, confrontations -- somebody is going to get hurt," said Wilbur Slockish, a Yakama and one of eight Columbia River chiefs in Wishram, Wash.
The debate over hatchery versus wild fish is an old one. The central question is whether the offspring of hatchery fish born in the wild are as fit and productive as those born without any hatchery influence.
The tribe allows a certain number of hatchery fish into wild spawning areas as a way to boost reproduction. But federal biologists say fish from two wild parents are better.
Yakama leaders say the latest federal proposal will undo their victories in court to restore fish and protect their treaty fishing rights in the basin.
Decades ago, the Yakamas led the charge for fish restoration in the Columbia River basin, and before that, were instrumental in hatchery reform that brought more fish to upper watersheds.
The Yakamas have also spent years refining hatchery operations to rebuild wild runs, Parker said.
But the National Marine Fisheries Service is suggesting in its draft environmental impact statement that mixing hatchery and native fish in the same spawning areas is producing not only an inferior fish but slowing the restoration of wild runs.
The draft statement, actually a 1,100-page study, was conducted as part of the permitting process for 62 hatchery operations funded by the federal Mitchell Act. Congress passed the legislation in 1938 to pay to restore fish lost in the construction and operation of Bonneville Dam.
Those hatcheries produce more than 71 million fish a year.
The impact statement proposes five scenarios, ranging from no changes to hatchery operations, to reducing by more than half the number of hatchery fish in the basin and eliminating Mitchell Act funding, which provides anywhere from $11 million to $16 million a year for hatchery operations alone in the Columbia River basin.
The National Marine Fisheries Service will use the document to decide how to shape hatchery policy and guide Mitchell Act funding.
Public comments on the statement closed early this month. National Marine Fisheries officials will review all comments before making a final decision, but they don't yet have a timeline.
"At minimum, we'll meet with hatchery operators to determine a preferred alternative," said National Marine Fisheries biologist Allyson Purcell in Portland. "The decision that comes out of this will impact how Mitchell Act funds are distributed."
Yakamas are not alone in their opposition. Three other Columbia River tribes -- Nez Perce, Umatilla and Warm Springs -- have submitted responses opposing such a move. And four counties -- Clatsop and Columbia in Oregon and Pacific and Wahkiakum in Washington -- have submitted letters in opposition.
The issue is important both culturally and in an economic sense. Salmon are sacred to Columbia River tribes, who honor the fish during annual religious ceremonies. It's also a dietary staple.
Commercial fishing for salmon and steelhead on the Columbia River infuses millions of dollars into area economies each year.
Chief Slockish thinks the proposal is really about money -- namely, funding cuts.
"I don't know if people are paying attention, but our people's programs are the ones that get cut, the first ones," he added.
Losing Mitchell Act funding would be a big step back, said Blodgett, manager of the Prosser Hatchery.
"Basically what it does is we'd lose 700,000 coho and 1.7 million chinook (each year)," he said. "We'd definitely take a hit."
Eagle Creek Hatchery, where coho are reared for return to the Yakima River, is entirely funded by the Mitchell Act. The Prosser Hatchery and the Klickitat Hatchery, near Glenwood, Wash., also run by the Yakama Nation, receive some Mitchell Act funding.
But National Fisheries Services senior biologist Craig Busack in Portland said the science is increasingly clear. There are 13 endangered species listings for fish in the Columbia River basin, and biologists have to use the best science available under the Endangered Species Act, he said.
"We just can't get away from the fact that evidence is building that hatchery fish are having a genetic impact on natural fish," he said.
He predicted a big rebound in native fish populations if hatcheries are cut back, although he declined to say how big.
Parker responds that the science isn't definitive. He said the problem could be more related to habitat than genetics. He said it looks like wild eggs are losing out to the habitat.
"And we can fix that," he said. For example, survival of fish eggs would improve by increasing the number of spawning areas and spreading them out over larger areas. That way, they'd be less susceptible to predators, Parker said.
What's more, Parker said limiting interaction between hatchery and wild fish isn't a guarantee that wild populations will rebound. Habitat is far from perfect, and returning fish have to navigate eight or nine hydroelectric projects in the basin.
"We're going to have to use hatcheries for a period of time to sustain these wild populations that can't sustain themselves," he said. "We may have to use them forever."
* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.
GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republ
Terrance Compo puts a female coho salmon into a tray for transportation to a nearby building where it's eggs will be removed Nov. 16, 2010 at the Prosser fish hatchery. The eggs, once they're fertilized, will be taken to a Mitchell Act-funded Oregon hatchery to be raised because there's not enough room at the Prosser hatchery. If that Oregon hatchery were to be closed at least some of the coho run would then have to repopulate on its own without hatchery help.
GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republ
Michael Fiander removes eggs from a coho salmon at the Prosser hatchery Nov. 16, 2010. Many of the eggs taken from salmon that day, once fertilized, will be taken to a Mitchell Act-funded Oregon hatchery to be raised because there's not enough room at the Prosser hatchery. If that Oregon hatchery were to be closed at least some of the coho run would then have to repopulate on its own without hatchery help.
GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republ
Joe Blodgett Hatchery manager, Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project Yakama Nation
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/11/19/fish-fight-wild-vs-hatchery
From the Yakima Herald-Republic Online News.
Posted on Friday, November 19, 2010
Fish fight: wild vs. hatchery
By Phil Ferolito
Yakima Herald-Republic
PROSSER -- Joe Blodgett strips eggs from a wild female coho at the Prosser Hatchery and places them into a plastic strainer.
Hatchery workers then fertilize the eggs by hand before shipping them to Eagle Creek Hatchery in Estacada, Ore., south of Portland, where they will be raised and eventually released into the upper Yakima River.
Headed by the Yakama Nation, this fish restoration effort has put thousands of coho back into the Yakima River -- where they once were extinct -- contributing to a rare coho fishing season last fall.
Other fish runs have met with similar success in the Columbia River basin, where fall and spring chinook recently returned in record numbers.
But now, in a controversial move, the National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing to limit hatchery fish in order to rebuild wild fish populations, concluding that the latter are stronger and more productive.
Not so fast, say biologists for the Yakama Nation.
Although the Yakamas favor wild fish, they say hatcheries provide enough fish for harvesting while wild runs are being rebuilt. Any move at this time to reduce hatchery fish, they say, would undo years of restoration work and greatly diminish fishing for both tribal fishermen and sports enthusiasts.
"It's going to have big impacts, and we're not convinced that it's necessary," said Steve Parker, one of the Yakama Nation's leading fish biologists, referring to a draft environmental impact statement recently drawn up by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Some say reducing the number of hatchery fish will even lead to fights on the water as fishermen crowd the fisheries in the tributaries.
"Physical fights, confrontations -- somebody is going to get hurt," said Wilbur Slockish, a Yakama and one of eight Columbia River chiefs in Wishram, Wash.
The debate over hatchery versus wild fish is an old one. The central question is whether the offspring of hatchery fish born in the wild are as fit and productive as those born without any hatchery influence.
The tribe allows a certain number of hatchery fish into wild spawning areas as a way to boost reproduction. But federal biologists say fish from two wild parents are better.
Yakama leaders say the latest federal proposal will undo their victories in court to restore fish and protect their treaty fishing rights in the basin.
Decades ago, the Yakamas led the charge for fish restoration in the Columbia River basin, and before that, were instrumental in hatchery reform that brought more fish to upper watersheds.
The Yakamas have also spent years refining hatchery operations to rebuild wild runs, Parker said.
But the National Marine Fisheries Service is suggesting in its draft environmental impact statement that mixing hatchery and native fish in the same spawning areas is producing not only an inferior fish but slowing the restoration of wild runs.
The draft statement, actually a 1,100-page study, was conducted as part of the permitting process for 62 hatchery operations funded by the federal Mitchell Act. Congress passed the legislation in 1938 to pay to restore fish lost in the construction and operation of Bonneville Dam.
Those hatcheries produce more than 71 million fish a year.
The impact statement proposes five scenarios, ranging from no changes to hatchery operations, to reducing by more than half the number of hatchery fish in the basin and eliminating Mitchell Act funding, which provides anywhere from $11 million to $16 million a year for hatchery operations alone in the Columbia River basin.
The National Marine Fisheries Service will use the document to decide how to shape hatchery policy and guide Mitchell Act funding.
Public comments on the statement closed early this month. National Marine Fisheries officials will review all comments before making a final decision, but they don't yet have a timeline.
"At minimum, we'll meet with hatchery operators to determine a preferred alternative," said National Marine Fisheries biologist Allyson Purcell in Portland. "The decision that comes out of this will impact how Mitchell Act funds are distributed."
Yakamas are not alone in their opposition. Three other Columbia River tribes -- Nez Perce, Umatilla and Warm Springs -- have submitted responses opposing such a move. And four counties -- Clatsop and Columbia in Oregon and Pacific and Wahkiakum in Washington -- have submitted letters in opposition.
The issue is important both culturally and in an economic sense. Salmon are sacred to Columbia River tribes, who honor the fish during annual religious ceremonies. It's also a dietary staple.
Commercial fishing for salmon and steelhead on the Columbia River infuses millions of dollars into area economies each year.
Chief Slockish thinks the proposal is really about money -- namely, funding cuts.
"I don't know if people are paying attention, but our people's programs are the ones that get cut, the first ones," he added.
Losing Mitchell Act funding would be a big step back, said Blodgett, manager of the Prosser Hatchery.
"Basically what it does is we'd lose 700,000 coho and 1.7 million chinook (each year)," he said. "We'd definitely take a hit."
Eagle Creek Hatchery, where coho are reared for return to the Yakima River, is entirely funded by the Mitchell Act. The Prosser Hatchery and the Klickitat Hatchery, near Glenwood, Wash., also run by the Yakama Nation, receive some Mitchell Act funding.
But National Fisheries Services senior biologist Craig Busack in Portland said the science is increasingly clear. There are 13 endangered species listings for fish in the Columbia River basin, and biologists have to use the best science available under the Endangered Species Act, he said.
"We just can't get away from the fact that evidence is building that hatchery fish are having a genetic impact on natural fish," he said.
He predicted a big rebound in native fish populations if hatcheries are cut back, although he declined to say how big.
Parker responds that the science isn't definitive. He said the problem could be more related to habitat than genetics. He said it looks like wild eggs are losing out to the habitat.
"And we can fix that," he said. For example, survival of fish eggs would improve by increasing the number of spawning areas and spreading them out over larger areas. That way, they'd be less susceptible to predators, Parker said.
What's more, Parker said limiting interaction between hatchery and wild fish isn't a guarantee that wild populations will rebound. Habitat is far from perfect, and returning fish have to navigate eight or nine hydroelectric projects in the basin.
"We're going to have to use hatcheries for a period of time to sustain these wild populations that can't sustain themselves," he said. "We may have to use them forever."
* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.
GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republ
Terrance Compo puts a female coho salmon into a tray for transportation to a nearby building where it's eggs will be removed Nov. 16, 2010 at the Prosser fish hatchery. The eggs, once they're fertilized, will be taken to a Mitchell Act-funded Oregon hatchery to be raised because there's not enough room at the Prosser hatchery. If that Oregon hatchery were to be closed at least some of the coho run would then have to repopulate on its own without hatchery help.
GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republ
Michael Fiander removes eggs from a coho salmon at the Prosser hatchery Nov. 16, 2010. Many of the eggs taken from salmon that day, once fertilized, will be taken to a Mitchell Act-funded Oregon hatchery to be raised because there's not enough room at the Prosser hatchery. If that Oregon hatchery were to be closed at least some of the coho run would then have to repopulate on its own without hatchery help.
GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republ
Joe Blodgett Hatchery manager, Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project Yakama Nation
