Lawsuit Settlement Big Advance For Wild Steelhead Recovery 
Friday, April 25, 2014 at 1:06PM
El Guapo in Announcements, wild fish conservancy

Some huge news courtesy of the Wild Fish Conservancy.

Wild Fish Conservancy and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) have settled the lawsuit filed by the Conservancy March 31, 2014 seeking Endangered Species Act (ESA) compliance for WDFW’s “Chambers Creek” hatchery winter steelhead programs.  Since the first listing of Puget Sound salmon under the ESA in 1999, almost all of WDFW’s hatchery programs in the region have continued to produce and release hatchery salmonids without the evaluation and legal permission required under the ESA.  Under the settlement, WDFW will cease planting Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead in all Puget Sound rivers but one, until NOAA approves each specific hatchery program.  The settlement also establishes a twelve-year moratorium of such hatchery plants in the Skagit River system, Puget Sound’s largest tributary and most important wild steelhead river.

LINK

Article originally appeared on Fly Fishing | Blog | Photos | Podcasts | Travel | Gear | and More (http://www.moldychum.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.