What a positive report. Not one word about Washington Trout! Looks like hatchery reform is going forward as it had been before WT chose to stir the pot, go to court and waste valuable time and money that could have been spent moving forward as this article outlines:

Outdoors
Notebook: Changes seem likely for salmon hatcheries

By Mark Yuasa
Seattle Times staff reporter

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In the near future, some Washington salmon hatcheries are expected to get a thorough facelift.

The Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG) released a report recently that lays the groundwork for implementing a comprehensive, systematic and scientific redesign of salmon hatcheries in Puget Sound and coastal Washington.

By focusing on watershed conservation and fisheries goals, scientific defensibility and adaptive management, the recommendations redefine how hatchery programs will be designed, operated and evaluated.

Members include Gov. Gary Locke, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.); Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Chair Billy Frank, Jr.; NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator Bob Lohn; and state Fish and Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings.

"Hatcheries should be viewed as only one of several tools available for recovering depressed populations and providing fisheries," said HSRG Chairman Lars Mobrand. "They should be used for these purposes only when the benefits outweigh the risks."

Mobrand added that the keys to successful hatchery reform include operating hatchery programs based on clear regional goals and institutionalizing a process of continued monitoring and assessment that informs decision-making.

"My agency has the dual responsibilities of conserving wild salmon and supporting sustainable fisheries," said Jeff Koenings, Director of state Fish and Wildlife. "Hatcheries play a critical role in both arenas, and the HSRG is providing the scientific framework for their operation."

The group divided Puget Sound and the coast into 10 regions, providing an unprecedented opportunity to make region-by-region recommendations based on regional-management goals for conservation and harvest, and on stock and habitat health.

The reviews included a consideration of each hatchery program's effects on all hatchery and naturally spawning salmonid stocks in the region.

Congressman Dicks and Governor Locke have taken the lead to secure funding for both the recommendations and implementation phases of the Hatchery Reform Project.



"Salmon fishing provides $1 billion annually to our state's economy," Dicks said. "One of the things I admire most about this effort is that it seeks to make our fisheries sustainable while protecting and helping to recover wild salmon."

Copies of the report are available at www.longlivethekings.org

why did he say "conserving", is this plan trying to conserve whats left of is it aimed at rebuilding the wild salmon runs ?

"Hatcheries should be viewed as only one of several tools available for recovering depressed populations and providing fisheries," said HSRG Chairman Lars Mobrand. "They should be used for these purposes only when the benefits outweigh the risks."


Hatheries have never once been used to restore wild runs. This announcment is so completely vague and ambiguious thoes of us who are skeptical of the agencies involved would see it as wishy washy and unreliable exactly the same as they have been to date.
I'll wait to see exactly what changes occurr in hatchery practices and what thoes changes accomplich before I go raving about hatchery reform. My guess is , based on Dept history that basically nothing will change. Maybe fin clip less fish in the columbia systems for the tribes.
As far as what the director said about a "dual purpose," well he has used that as an exuse to do nothing for so long it's a chiche.

Rob

Click on the LLTK's website for an idea of the reforms being proposed. Maybe there are some proposals that are worth a try? I don't think these are the bad people you want to paint them as being. Like the director said, he sees a dual role, one to protect the wild run and one to provide susatainable fisheries. That may not sit well with the anti-hatchery philosophy but it may be more inclusive.

Oh and by the way you can stop waiting for Al Gore to be declared president,too. He lost.

so what changes will be made that there not doing now? i should say what things will they do different?

they are going to change the hours that the public can visit the hatcherys, instead of closing at 6, they will close at 6:30

LLTK has been charged with the task of making our hatcheries actually fulfill there purpose.Currently our hatcheries do nothing but produce mass amounts of fish,raised in an envirement the does nothing to prepare them for the wild,in hopes that a few survive and return to be harvested.The current hatchery envirement actually kills off the fish that have the very instincts that would make or break a wild fish.How many of you as a kid caught something wild and tried to keep it as a pet of sorts,lets say in a shoe box.No matter what you did,tried to feed it,etc it died.It died because it could not handle the stress of this non wild envirement.It wanted to be wild.Countless generations created it to be wild not an aquariam animal.This drive to be wild keeps it from flourishing in this non wild enviro.So after several generations of these wild fish being raised in a non wild enviro only the ones with the weaker instincts could survive,leaving you with a weak stock of fish."only the strong survive" well in our hatchery enviros the opposite happens.

On top of this our hatcheries do nothing to prepare these young fish from predation.In the wild you learn to deal with the many differant animals that are higher on the food chain than you.Over the years this becomes instinct.Kind of like we humans become immune to diseases and viiruses after contacting them.lltk is looking at using natural pools in a wild enviro with predators and the cover to evade these predators in hopes of heading off this problem.You look at a hatchery and there is no cover whatsoever!Actually the last couple of years the state has figured out this one and is using removable shade covers of sorts.

They are also keeping human intervention down to a minimum.Random feeding times is another one.

Ultimately they are looking at using hatcheries to actually build up the wild stocks,native to a system,Raised in as wild an enviro as can be afforded,in hopes that they can actually come back and reproduce on there own.I am only touching on a few of the things that LLtk is working on but It is based on science and common sence instead of politics and the comercial dollar.I believe that it will be a big step,in the right dierection for our native stocks and the hatchery system. Although a far cry from an easy one.

grandpa... good attempt at making an assumption about me but you wrong.


I looked at the site and although the idea is a noble one I'll wait to see the results before i say it's a good idea. Seeing as how such projects have never worked before even when the only part of the process that took place in a hatchery was the spawning of the adults.