YOU are getting screwed and you don't even know it yet! Please read the new Cowlitz River Fisheries and Hatchery Management plan (FHMP)
http://www.ci.tacoma.wa.us/Power/parks/cowlitz/relicensing/FHMP_Draft_1_05_%202004.pdf

If this board wants to see how a laymen like me, can go head to head with professional bureaucrats who chose to defend this screwed up Plan, this may be one of the best threads this board has ever seen!

Do you like to bring a fish home for dinner once in a while? Do you like to catch steelhead in October through February, or catch hatchery sea run cutthroat on the Cowlitz? Do you like to take a hatchery fish home once and a while, maybe to eat, i.e. coho, steelhead, or a cutthroat?

Do you like to catch lots of "hatchery" fish, like the big runs of coho, that the Cowlitz has always experienced? Do you want to continue to catch early winter run hatchery steelhead on the Cowlitz? Do you want special environment interest groups like American Rivers (AR) or Yakama National or other special interest groups like Trout Unlimited (TU) setting the goals, the productions rates, and species of fish that you enjoying catching on the Cowlitz River?

Do you want a tribe, like the Yakama's, Who have NO LEGAL fishing rights on the Cowlitz to have special powers in setting policy on how you harvest or manage the fishery on the Cowlitz? Do you want the Yakama's, TU, or AR making the recommendation that will limit the production standards and numbers fish that you may be allowed to catch or harvest in the future on the Cowlitz?

Well if you do, then please don't read what is about to happen to the future sport fishing in the Cowlitz River under the new Draft Cowlitz Fisheries Hatchery Management Plan (FHMP)!

The Plan, as written, will mean dooms day to our sporting fishing on the Cowlitz. The Plan was developed and crafted by Tacoma, to save them millions of dollars each year in mitigation coasts. Tacoma and a few others are attempting to turn the Cowlitz into a "wild fish" river over the next several years. I expect that this issue will develop a few serious debates on how this plans fails to meets Tacoma's mitigation responsibilities for damages that their project has done, and continue to do, to the Cowlitz. I know that Salmo G will most likely defend Tacoma's position that Tacoma is mitigating all that they must do under the Federal Power Act. Other State agencies may jump in, under the cover of there board names to defend how screwed up the FHMP is.

When its all said and done, you will all be able to see for yourselves if I am right about what the new FHMP will do to the Cowlitz fishery. Either way, if you think that you will be able to continue to fish and have "catchable" runs of fish in the Cowlitz in the future for both your and your kids ….. It's time to wake up and smell the roses!

If you enjoy fishing on the Cowlitz and, and yes, harvesting a fish or two, you owe it to your self to read the newly released draft FHMP for the Cowlitz. It's over 175 pages long, but you can just go to the specie that you like to fish, to see just how screwed up the Plan is! After reading it, I will be more then happy to try answering your question! I my reading it as I write, so it may take some time to get back to each of your concerns or questions.

Tacoma and a few others have now created a plan to phase out most of the hatchery production in the Cowlitz in lieu of believing that "wild fish" will be able to produce Tacoma's mitigation responsibilities.

The joke is on us. . . and we don't even know it yet!

Please read it closely, because you are getting screwed big time, as sport fishermen!


Cowlitzfisherman

Reading..........



And reading.........


Still reading...........


Hey CFM, is there a condensed version.

Hmmm, lets see.

We'll draft our own plan. If there's any oppisition to the plan, we can exclude them from from participating because we dont have to negotiate with anyone who doesn't agree with the plan.

Then lets set the trigger levels to an unatainable mark, and make sure there's a plan in place to control the levels so we never have to mitigate that.

And since hatchery fish cost us money, lets figure out a clever way to cut that back @20% each year.

And since it's so obvious what we're doing, lets put out a 175 page report to the public. We can release a realistic version to ourselves.


And lets make customers, residents, and sport fishers pay for all of it while we rake the coin.


one more thing, lets raise rates too. Damm this is fun. Hope those Liberals stay around for a while. Man lets draw up more plans, this is working great.


WARNING!! Before reading the 175 page document, the Sergoen General advises you lube well to avoid ripping and tearing.


Sonamonabiatchy ...........

25) The WDFW shall minimize the number of hatchery adults remaining to
potentially spawn with wild fish through removal of hatchery fish at
sufficiently high harvest and/or trapping rates.


this is about as far as I could get before the lightbulb went off.

AS I posted once before, Billy Frank said to me "If it weren't for the hatcheries there would be no fish at all."

And several years ago, when I asked my high school football coach and fishing mentor why he had quit fishing, his reply.."I don't want to be known as the guy that caught the last salmon."
That statement is starting to make sense to me now.

just more babble, I guess, might be time to go in search of litlcleo

Yep! When Tacoma and gang get done with the Cowlitz and they get to do what is proposed in the FHMP, this will be what you will be using for bait!

ahhh

3/8" x 2 1/2" galvinized?

Maybe brass up the a$$ would fit the bill?

Cowlitz, we've all been screwed so often now I am and surprised were not all wearing depends!

Has anyone put 2 and 2 together yet and figured out why WDFW went along with not having any wild restoration program for the early winter run steelhead? The answer is simple; if you were to have wild native steelhead coming back in early November, you could not have the massive gill net fishery going on in the Lower Columbia for coho at the same time!

Remember how many steelhead they caught in 2002 when they were using coho nets for the tangle net fishery for springers? They took over 20,900 steelhead in the nets and they weren’t trying to get them. That's why WDFW has agreed to do away with our early winter steelhead! If the steelhead, get caught in the Coho net fishery now, it will be OK because they will all be hatchery fish and it won't affect the coho commercial net fishery.

The boys in Region 5 need to spend some time behind bars! This "wild fish" recovery program is nothing more then a joke on the Cowlitz and the jokes being played on you and me!!!

Cowlitzfisherman

More bad news!

I was just reading the amount of production that these guys intend to cut. It will make you sick! In an earlier thread at; http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=016261

Salmo G said;

That would lead us all to believe that the Tacoma was dropping there production down from 900,000 to the low end of 650,000 pounds. That would be 250,000 pounds less in production! That's bad news for the Cowlitz and the fishermen who fish it. But wait….it gets even worse!

When you read the FHMP, they are not going to drop the hatchery production down to 650,000 pounds like we thought, they are cutting it down to 530,000 (page 38 of the FHMP) pounds! That a whooping total of 370,000 pound of fish that you won't be seeing coming back to fish on.

Tell us again Salmo………..how Tacoma is meeting it mitigation!

We are getting screw far worse then even you had thought!


Cowlitzfisherman

Hey Cowlitz, is that 900,000 pounds of released smolts or returning adults?

That's released smolts/ fry ...the whole works!

4Salt subtract 530,000 from 900,000

It, really 370,000 less pounds of smolts/fry

Cowlitzfisherman

I believe ya Cowlitz! I wasn't questioning your math, I just wasn't sure what the 900,000 / 650,000 / 570,000 etc. represented.

Noble effort cowlitz but have you considered spreading the word beyond this board? Yes, we all need/should do our part but you have the knowledge base and are the best versed on the issue.

What about a well-worded, not-to-lengthy letter to the outdoor writers of The Columbian, Seattle Times, Seattle-PI, Tacoma News Tribune, The Oregonian and The Daily Olympian since most of the cowlitz crowd are from these regions?

I hate to be a pessimists but it sounds like minds have been made up and the damage done. What really haunts me is all those cowlitz regulars will now be heading to the coast........heck,it's already happening.

Very sad. I always enjoyed catching those cowlitz summer-runs.

CFM,

I first want to assert that I don't have any interest in the Cowlitz fishery, other than perhaps its impacts on the rest of the Columbia River and its tributaries recoveries of wild steelhead. I only fish there twice a year, and it's not that big of a deal to me.

I do, however, have an interest in sportfishermen having viable opportunities to fish, catch fish, and harvest hatchery fish. I also know that the Cowlitz fishery is a spot where a lot of people do get those opportunities.

That being said, I'm going to ask you some questions that I don't know the answer to, since I'm not up at all on the situation down there, and I know you very much are up on the situation.

Not taking sides...just asking questions!

Under the old license agreement...

1. What was Tacoma Power required to do?
2. What did they do to satisfy those requirements?
3. How did they do meeting those requirements (or not meeting them)?

Under the new license agreement...

4. What are they required to do?
5. What are they going to do to meet those requirements?
6. How will those actions do at meeting the requirements?

And lastly...

7. Are the new requirements less or more than they were required to do under the first agreement?

8. If the requirements did change, more or less, were the changes required by law, created by negotiation, or based on something else?

Without having to read all the documentation, if you could fill me in on this stuff it would bring me up to speed very quickly, and then I could form some opinions about what's going on.

I think it would help everyone else to have this information, too.

Thanks, in advance, Bob, for your help and enthusiasm regarding this program. I know I just asked for a lot of information, but I'm sure I could get it from someone as informed as you are more quickly than any other way. With the answers to those questions I'll be able to form some sort of viable opinion as to what is going on down there.

Fish on...

Todd.

Todd

As an attorney, you know what kind of "load" you just dumped onto me. You know what research is needed to answer your questions that you have just given to me. I am not the world's best typist and what you have asked will take me away from preparing my comments on the FHMP, which are due on the Feb. 12th. That may sound like a lot of time, but I am also helping our attorney prepare our comment on the draft BiOp at the same time That I am writing this reply. I know that you know what I am saying!

I will give it my best shot and try to have your answers out by tonight or tomorrow morning. I hope that you will understand my dilemma that I am in right now. Your questions defiantly deserve an answer and I will try to get back to as soon as possible.

Cowlitzfisherman

Eric

It is hard, if not impossible to be a one man battalion!

I have posted this same issue on one other board besides this one. Many of there members fish or guide on the Cowlitz, and many are also members here. Every time anyone tries to get in touch with the papers, Tacoma sends out there goon squad with the big bucks to back them up. Tacoma news Tribune wrote a fairly good article about 4 or 5 months ago warning of what's to come. They talked to Tacoma's goon squad biologist and he painted a real rosy picture of what a great job that these butts have done.

A friend of mind wrote a big reply back, but as far as I know, the Tacoma News Tribune did not or would not print it. Most of my personal efforts are to inform the fishermen that he is getting screwed! I don't ask for much funding, so my group (CPR-Fish) has very limited funds to make the public aware of what is happening to the Cowlitz. I try to do the best that I can for the everyday fishermen, but I can only do so much and I run out time, money, and hope! And it's just about in that order that it occurs! I can tell you that Tacoma is holding a public meeting on Feb. 5. Tacoma Power is planning an open house-style drop-in public briefing on Thursday, February 5, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Elks Lodge, 2501 N.E. Kresky Ave. in Chehalis.

If you guys want to keep the crowds from swamping your favorite spots, it would behoove you to come to this meeting and tell Tacoma how screwed up the new Cowlitz FHMP realty is. That is something that we all can do, with little cost to us. We will carry the "sword" when it comes to knowing "the facts", but we do need a small army of soldiers to let them know that we mean what we say.

Will you and others join our army? Even if you don't like to fish the Cowlitz for what ever reason you can think, do want the herds of these fishermen falling upon your special honey hole?

Come to the meeting on Feb 5 and stand behind our sword!

They will have to listen to us, if they like it or not. NUMBERS DO COUNT!!!!


Cowlitzfisherman

Thanks, Bob, I appreciate your effort...

It doesn't have to be super-detailed, just a sketch of the answers to give me somewhere to start when I do my own research.

Good luck with your efforts down there...like you said, even if I don't fish the Cowlitz, I don't mind that 500 other people are on the days I'm somewhere else!

Fish on...

Todd.

CFM, Todd & others who care about the fish i love & the sport I'm passionate about........ a BIG thanks for all you do.

CFM, where is the meeting to be held?

Todd, what about the Feb 5th meeting in Oregon City for the Springer Allocation on the CR? What do you know about that & is their public testimony allowed.

I had planned to be available on that day so I would like to know where my time will be best spent.

Thanks.
Jim

Todd

I hope these answers many of your questions.


1. What was Tacoma Power required to do?

Answer to question #1

a) Tacoma had agreed to, and was required to produce enough smolts to assure that 25,000 adult coho would return back to the "rack" at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery.
b) Tacoma had agreed to, and was required to produce enough smolts to assure that 17, 300 Spring Chinook would return back to the "rack".
c) Tacoma had agreed to, and was required to produce enough smolts to assure that 8,300 Fall Chinook would return to the "rack"

In addition, Tacoma Power had agreed to in a separate agreement, with WDG to produce enough smolts (191,000) to assure that 38,600 (combined steelhead and sea run cutthroat trout) adults would retune to the Cowlitz each year. They were to be counted by rack returns and punch card data combined


2. What did they do to satisfy those requirements?

Answer to question #2;

They had to purchase some land for wildlife, and build a couple of parks at the reserviors and maintain them

They produced hatchery fish, and they signed agreements with WDF and WDG to produce certain agreed-to numbers of smolts that were to assure that X amount of adult fish would return back to the "rack" at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatcher each year. The steelhead returns were to counted by combined hatchery return and punch card data.

3. How did they do meeting those requirements (or not meeting them)?
Answer to question #3;

On steelhead they met there mitigation goal most of the times. On cutthroat they probably met there mitigation goals about 75% of the time.

On salmon; they met migration only;
Spring Chinook was met 50.7%
Fall Chinook was met 70.9%
Coho was met 88%

Next you asked; Under the new license agreement...

4. What are they required to do?

That's a good question! During the last minute settlement negotiation (where we were excluded), Tacoma had an outside consultant bring in a special report that set the "benchmarks" for salmon on the Cowlitz. No one questioned them at the time, so now were stuck for the time being, until they can be overturned. There were no "benchmarks" that were used in the settlement agreement for steelhead or cutthroat that I am aware of, so no one can say how Tacoma pulled that one off. According to Salmo G, Tacoma was only required to mitigate for the amount of fish lost that would occur above the dams if Tacoma had never built there projects. We differ greatly on what those numbers should be, and believe that Tacoma should also mitigate for loss production of fish that has occurred below Tacoma project. There Project operations have effected all natural production below the dams.

We believed what Tacoma's benchmarks for the salmon are to low, and we know that they are to low for steelhead and cutthroat.

We have documentation that says the benchmarks should have been over a thousand adult fish higher for steelhead, and over 24,000 higher for sea run cutthroat. Cutthroats are not even being mitigated for now in the new agreement. I also believe that our documentation sets the benchmarks higher for fall chinook. My documents show that the benchmarks for falls are about 5000 lower then what is currently being mitigated for in the new agreement.

5. What are they going to do to meet those requirements?

They are going to remodel the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery and cut back on fish production by 370,000 pounds in the false belief that they will able to grow bigger, better, and healthier smolts to release. They are cutting back the current hatchery production on the false belief and hope that the "natural" production will make up the difference. Good ideal in a perfect world, but if you can't catch the smolts it's all a bunch of BS! Tacoma is trying to save money by improving the smolt collection facilities at Cowlitz Falls Dam so that they will not be forced into building all new smolt collection facilities in Riffe Lake, one of the largest dams in the state. The fatal flaw is that Tacoma has been dragging there feet for the last three years and haven done a damn thing let.

NMFS has set a goal of 95% Fish Passage Survival (“FPS”), but has only mandated Tacoma to achieved at least 75% FPS for all species. Tacoma is to set aside 15 million dollars in a trust fund to give back to the agencies in lieu of not doing upstream volitional fish passage, if they can't not meet the "trigger" requirements that were set in the settlement.

This is the catch 22 to fish passage; "Within six months of license issuance, or as soon as practicable thereafter depending on the availability of marked fish, and updated on an annual basis thereafter, the Licensee shall file with the Commission a report on adult anadromous fish traveling through the Cowlitz River Project, prepared in collaboration with the Fisheries Technical Committee provided for in the August 2000 Settlement Agreement, or if the Settlement Agreement has become void, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Washington Department of Ecology (referred to as “the FTC or agencies”).

The report shall include: 1) the most recent version of Tables 3, 4, and 5 from the report entitled Contribution Rate Benchmarks for Future Runs of Spring Chinook, Fall Chinook, and Coho Produced at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery that provide estimated age 3 recruits and survival equivalency that enables comparison of future broods to the benchmark run year and survival rate for each of these species, dated June 28, 2000 and filed with the Commission concurrently with the August 2000 Cowlitz River Hydroelectric Project Settlement Agreement; 2) tables estimating the annual number of adult recruits originating from the Cowlitz River basin upstream of the Toutle River, and including steelhead, cutthroat trout, and all other indigenous stocks that are produced at the hatcheries, along with an index of each stock to its benchmark values, or if not otherwise agreed, a default index of “1”; 3) a plan and schedule for studies, to be conducted at regular intervals, to evaluate whether the following criteria for implementing effective upstream passage through volitional facilities have been met:

A) adult fish in Mayfield Lake are able to choose their tributary of origin and survive Mayfield Lake transit at rates determined by NMFS and USFWS, in consultation with the FTC or agencies, to be sufficient to achieve effective upstream passage through volitional facilities and;

B) as determined based on the above-described tables with respect to: (i) the number of pre-spawners arriving at the Barrier Dam, in at least 3 of 5 consecutive brood years measured, and based on the 5-year rolling average, exceeds an abundance level which indicates natural recruitment above Mayfield Dam has achieved self-sustaining levels, as determined by the National Marine Fisheries Service in consultation with the FTC or agencies; (ii) the productivity level in 3 of 5 years and the 5-year rolling average, as measured at the Barrier Dam or other Cowlitz River fish counting facilities by the recruit/pre-spawner ratio, exceeds 1.0; and (iii) the disease management plan required by Article 8 has been implemented.

c) For any annual report filed within 12 years of license issuance in which the results of the studies indicate that, within the next three years or less, the above criteria for volitional upstream passage will be met with respect to any salmonid species originating in the Tilton basin and with respect to either spring chinook salmon or late winter steelhead originating above Mossyrock Dam, the Licensee shall also include proposed preliminary designs and schedules for the construction of upstream passage systems for the Project."

This sounds like it may work, except for the fact that the Cowlitz Falls Fish Collection Facilities was never designed for collecting smolts in its original design, and has since been fitted with retro fitting after it was halfway built. It only got that because we (the FOC) sued the BPA and got the collection facilities as part of our out of court settlement. There have been tons of problems since it was built in 1994, and today they only achieve a mean collection average of only 56% for steelhead; 33% for coho; and 22% for chinook. It is both my opinion, and Salmo G, that the Cowlitz Falls Collection Facilities will never be able to reach the NMFS standard requirement to collect and pass 75% of all species. So unless Tacoma can figure out a new way to collect these fish, it will drop back to depending on the hatcheries to produce 100% of Tacoma's mitigation.

6. How will those actions do at meeting the requirements?

They haven't done $hit for over three years to improve the Cowlitz Falls Fish Collection Facilities. They have already started cutting back on the fish production in the hatcheries and they have just now finished writing a draft FHMP. The FHMP should been done first and sent out for public comment BEFORE they have started to cut back production. They have yet to bring the old hatcheries up to the new standards, and they have not yet constructed the 3 satellites rearing facilities that they had agreed to do. Tacoma knows that they can continue to drag there feet until the clocks ticks out on up stream fish passage, that way, they can continue collecting the interest on their 15 million dollar trust account until they are forced to turn it over the agencies in 15 years or so. Now you can see why WDFW didn't insist that Tacoma build upstream fish ladders. It's all about money and nothing else! Tacoma is just hoping that the sea run cutthroat and coho also become listed, so that they can cut that production back to almost nothing, and say that these spices must also now be produced naturally too!

It's nothing more then a chess game and most of our resource "players" don't know how to make the right moves. I am afraid that its going to be checkmate before they even get to move a pawn!

7. Are the new requirements less or more than they were required to do under the first agreement?

There is no question, Tacoma is required to do far less in this new license then they were in there first license. As hard as it is to believes, our state agencies had the legal right to demand upstream fish passage on both Mayfield and Mossyrock Dams in the old license. If NMFS can not make Tacoma design new collections facilities that meet the 75% FPS (Fish Passage Standard), all Tacoma is required to do for the next 35 years is to keep drawing up new plans and submitting them to FERC and NMFS for approval. In the mean time, Tacoma continues to save millions and millions more dollars by not producing hatchery fish, and they get to keep collecting interest on the 15 million dollar trust fund. They will continue to cut hatchery production because they will show that "hatchery" fish are now interfering and preventing the "natural fish" from recovery, and the game will go on and on for another 35 years. There were required to produce 38,600 combined steelhead and cutthroat in the first license. The new agreement only requires Tacoma to produce 20,900 steelhead and NO cutthroat.

They also agree to put 3 million into a Fish Habitat Fund; "Within 6 months of license issuance, the Licensee shall establish a habitat fund in the amount of $3.0 million for the purpose of fisheries habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement through acquisition, easements or restoration projects. The habitat fund may be a special or separate account held by Licensee with all accrued interest being credited to the fund" What good is this really going to do for the lower Cowlitz there not much left to protect, so most of these funds will never get spent! Tacoma also cut a few other little small deals to get the others to sign on to the agreement, but they really don't add up to much. Some of the agencies got some "play money", but the fish got screwed! It's important to remember that Tacoma make well over 17 million dollars a year, so these little "tad bits" don't really amount to much.


Finally, you asked;

8. If the requirements did change, more or less, were the changes required by law, created by negotiation, or based on something else?

That all depends on who you ask! If you ask Salmo G, it’s the best deal since ice cream was invented and it the law! If you ask the people who live on, or fish the Cowlitz, they will tell you that we all got screwed! I guess that the resources agencies were just getting tired of attending all those stupid relicensing meetings for 3 plus years, and just wanted to move on to the next project. NMFS could have demanded fish ladders by law, but choose to save Tacoma money, and went with truck and Haul. NMFS felt that truck and haul was better or at lease as good as fish ladders, so Tacoma didn't have to spend the 15 million upfront for fish passage. Thus the deal was cut!

I can tell you for a fact, that Tacoma has not yet fully met its fishery mitigation, if you use the "real benchmarks" for both steelhead and sea run cutthroat. Somehow, someone in the resource agencies was sleeping when Tacoma pulled the wool over there eyes. Most people would ask; if Tacoma was required to produce 38,600 adults (combined steelhead and cutthroat) in the last license, why are they only being required now to produce just 20,900 steelhead and NO cutthroat?

According to some, Tacoma has met there legal requirements of the federal power act. We do not believe that they have, and that is why we are sill in the courts. I suspect that we will eventually end up in the Supreme Court at some point in time, unless Tacoma settles and provides upstream fish passage. That would be a fish ladder over Mayfield, and either a tram or combination of trap and haul at Mossyrock Dam.

Todd

There is more, but it would take forever to post it all. I am going to send you a copy of the Settlement over email so that you can see what I am talking about. Then we can really get into the specifics.

I hope this is enough for now to get you interested in our plight. If anyone else needs to read the settlement agreement, please email me at cpr-fish@toledotel.com and I will send you an electronic copy to read.

Cowlitzfisherman

Bob,

Thanks so much for your time in getting this posted...I also thank you for sending me the settlement agreement via e-mail.

I'm heading out of town in about five minutes, so I haven't been able to read any of it yet, but I will on Sunday or Monday.

Thanks, again!

Fish on...

Todd.