“NOAA believes it’s risky to rely too much on hatcheries"

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) wants to see at least four Southwest Washington streams identified as wild steelhead strongholds with no planting of hatchery fish beginning in 2014.

Money quote from Rob Jones, hatcheries and inland fisheries chief for NMFS.

“NOAA believes it’s risky to rely too much on hatcheries and that some areas that are important to steelhead should not be planted with hatchery fish,’’ Jones said.

LINK

Which Fish Get To Recolonize After Elwha’s Dams Are Gone?

The removal of the Elwha Dams created a unique opportunity to restore a wild run of steelhead.

Unbelievably fisheries biologists are now transporting hatchery raised steelhead, along with some wild fish, above the former Elwha dam sites.

As the video, audio and link below show, those that earn their living off the robust economy of hatcheries continue to spin the debate about hatchery vs wild fish.

How bout this?

Regardless of the of "ongoing" debate, you're squandering a once in a lifetime opportunity to win one for wild fish. Instead of transporting those hatchery raised fish to the clear tributaries above the dismantled dams you would have been better served pairing them with a cedar plank and a nice Chardonnay.

It's bullshit, utter fucking bullshit.

You can read more happy horseshit here.

Pro Hatchery Salmon and Steelhead Rant Part 2

Part one has been pulled but you can still watch Part 2.

Here Comes the Judge

On Feb. 19 the Native Fish Society and The McKenzie Flyfishers filed a request in Oregon’s U.S. District Court asking for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction that forbids the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife from setting hatchery smolts free in the Sandy or its tributaries this spring.

LINK

The state of Oregon NOAA Fisheries, joined by three sport fishing organizations, say that the operation of northwest Oregon’s Sandy Hatchery under newly approved federal guidelines is legal and does not jeopardize wild salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Act.

LINK

It all goes in front of the judge on Wednesday.

Who are the three sportfishing groups going to bat for hatchery fish along with the state and the feds?

The Association of Northwest Steelheaders

The Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association

The Northwest Guide's and Anglers Association.

Air-Spawning Steelhead - A Photographic Journey

Photo: Angela Feldmann

For the past three years staff from Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries (NPT), Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), and the University of Idaho (UI) have come to the Dworshak hatchery to collect female North Fork Cleawater steelhead for their kelt reconditioning program.

LINK (via: The Fish Ladder)

Hatchery Threatens Native Fish

Steelhead trout from a Northern California fish hatchery prey upon and interbreed with threatened native fish, in violation of the Endangered Species Act, an environmental group claims in court.

The Environmental Protection Information Center sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and five top officers of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in Federal Court. It claims the defendants hatch and release the trout without proper clearance, to stock streams and lakes for recreational fishing.

The nonprofit group claims that the hatchery fish "compete with, prey upon, or interbreed with native wild coho and Chinook salmon and wild steelhead trout that are listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The hatchery steelhead trout cause a 'take' of wild salmon and steelhead that is illegal in the absence of authorization by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)."

LINK (via: Courthouse News)