Hatchery Steelhead Public Awareness Fact Sheet

[House]

Please send an email before Christmas to the National Maine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional directors listed below, asking that they complete by April 1, 2016 their reviews and final approvals, of early winter hatchery steelhead programs for the Dungeness, Nooksack, Stillaguamish, Skykomish, and Snoqualmie rivers:

• Mr. William W. Stelle, Regional Administrator, NMFS, west Coast Region EWShatcheriesEIS.wcr@noaa.gov

• Ms. Robyn Thorson, Regional Director, USFWS, Pacific Region Robyn_Thorson@fws.gov

Loss of Puget Sound winter hatchery steelhead production will lead to further attacks on salmon hatcheries as is occurring at the Leavenworth National salmon hatchery, the result of litigation by Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC). Consequently, salmon anglers must also engage now with the steelhead hatchery issue to protect your future salmon fishing opportunities.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under provisions of the National Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act, are currently reviewing five steelhead hatchery programs benefiting the Dungeness, Nooksack, Stillaguamish, Skykomish and Snoqualmie River basins. This review and approval of the programs must be completed in time to allow hatchery steelhead smolts to be released into these river systems by no later than May 1, 2016, or risk permanent loss of the early winter hatchery steelhead fisheries. Failure to release by May 1 would result in no subsequent adult broodstock to continue hatchery production.

In a 2014 Federal District court settlement to a lawsuit filed by WFC, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed to stop releasing early winter steelhead hatchery fish until Hatchery Genetic Management Plans (HGMPs) for each of the cited river basins had been approved by the NMFS. A 45 day public review of a NMFS draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assessing the HGMPs is scheduled to be completed on December 28, 2015.
NMFS will begin working on the final EIS in January. However, the time the federal agencies say they need to complete the final EIS and other documents could delay actual approval of the steelhead smolts releases well into May or even June, especially if litigation is pursued by WFC and/or other groups. This would be too late to save the hatchery steelhead programs.

Consequently, an expedited effort is required to reduce the current planned federal processing time by a month, if the early winter hatchery programs are to be continued following a careful review by the public and the approving federal agencies.

Our sport fishing/conservation organizations ask that you join us in demanding that the NMFS and USFWS regional directors expedite their reviews and approvals of the steelhead hatchery programs so that the steelhead smolts are released into the rivers by May 1, 2016.

Questions? Contact Frank Urabeck urabeck@comcast.net

[Fishnut]

I hope that everyone can read between the lines that NOAA has drug their feet constantly to run the clock out and your immediate response is needed. Bull Trout HGMPs had to be written and approved before the smolts could be released. This was US Fish and Wildlifes job to do this and they were not going to do get it done. They had 1 staff person working on it with only half of his time dedicated. WDFW had to step in, trade personnel with USFW, and write the Bull Trout HGMP in order to make the deadline.

Both agencies knew this. If these Steelhead are not released on time-May 1, WFC's lawsuit shuts down the steelhead program. This is step one of hatchery system shutdown.

Kinda like removing bullets. You can have a gun but doesn't do you much good without the bullets.

Please write the email to Will Stelle and Robyn Thorsen