[More Fisheries Issues in the News]
Restoring Snohomish County's wild salmon
"On February 26, 1998, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposed listing Puget Sound chinook and five other species of Washington salmon for protection as "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act. The impact of the listing of these species will affect land use and water-related activities in the entire Puget Sound region, including its urban areas. Along with the existing and other potential listings of certain salmon, steelhead, and trout species on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, the impacts of the Endangered Species Act will be felt throughout the state of Washington."
Washington Municipal Research & Services Center
[ Endangered Species Act Information and Resources ]
[ NOAA National Marine Fisheries Services ] [ See NMFS Press Release 16 March 99 ]
Reforming hatcheries now is essential
EVEN in the remarkable world of salmon, spring chinook are a true adaptive wonder. Big fish built for big, cold rivers, they enter their natal streams earlier, travel farther and thus sustain months of rigor without eating. Spring chinook are considered by many to be the finest salmon in their rivers.In the 1970s, one of the few spring chinook runs in Puget Sound in the White River, a Puyallup tributary, had declined to fewer than 30 adult fish. Under present standards, it certainly would have been considered for listing under The Endangered Species Act.
Fortunately, the application of some innovative hatchery science helped save the run from extinction. About 1980, a cooperative effort between the Tribes,and NOAA / NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife dedicated hatcheries, research facilities and acclimation ponds for the recovery of these endangered salmon.
Environmental improvements were also required, primarily related to safe fish passage. Acting to preserve the gene pool from complete extinction, fisheries experts maintained some fish in captivity for their entire life cycles, while gradually increasing the number of young salmon released. By the late 1990s, more than 500 adult spring chinook were returning. Not only has this hatchery project saved the White River spring chinook from extinction, ultimately it will provide enough fish to harvest. Hatcheries saving salmon runs? Innovation and hatcheries in the same breath? You wouldn't know it from the headlines. But if a recent report we developed at the request of U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton with the support of Gov. Gary Locke and Rep. Norm Dicks is adopted, such success stories could be commonplace.
Yes, hatcheries have contributed to the decline of natural populations of salmon and steelhead. It's also true many natural stocks are too low to sustain fisheries. So whether or not all the criticisms of hatcheries are valid, it's certain the only way fisheries can continue is if hatcheries continue. Sen. Gorton capsulized this problem by asking us whether hatcheries could actually help recover dwindling natural stocks while helping sustain fisheries in the Puget Sound and coastal Washington.
We accepted our assignment enthusiastically because we are convinced that change is necessary, and there should be no more debate about the need for reform. Four recent independent scientific reviews of Columbia River hatchery systems uniformly concluded that change is needed.
Trying to affix blame for past practices is neither fair nor productive. Science evolves, and there is much new information indicating what needs to be done. We certainly understand how past ideas have proven to be incorrect, for example:
Fisheries managers assumed that releasing more young fish would automatically produce more adults. The carrying capacity of the ocean was not considered, nor was the effect of competition with wild fish.
Now we see that more abundant hatchery returns masked the state of the natural runs and exacerbated the harvest of natural stocks even as they declined.
Most hatcheries were designed for scale and efficiency. But this sameness often bred fish ill-adapted to survive. Now we know we can hone survival instincts in the hatchery, improve condition before release, and thus release fewer fish with higher survival.
A key concept for our effort was to identify fundamental changes needed to allow application now rather than years in the future. The process under the Endangered Species Act and other activities presently under way by the fisheries agencies has reached conclusions similar to ours, but a lapse of years with no resources for implementation would delay salmon recovery. Reforming hatcheries can jump-start salmon and steelhead recovery, while required habitat improvements are implemented.
We believe the goals of hatchery reform should be to:
Conserve genetic resources;
Assist with the recovery of naturally spawning populations;
Provide for sustainable fisheries, and
Use science to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of hatchery programs.
We propose that an independent science panel review the hatchery system and monitor implementation of hatchery reform. Hatchery programs must be scientifically founded and evaluated, and independent scientists must interact with agency scientists to recommend needed research, provide operational guidelines, and regularly audit the system as a whole for effectiveness. We spell out scientific principles that all hatcheries should follow:
1. Measure hatchery success based on contributions to fisheries or natural adult spawners, not the number of juveniles released.
2. Reduce competition in the ecosystem between hatchery and wild salmon.
3. Minimize genetic impacts on native salmon.
4. Ensure the genetic diversity and minimize the domesticated behavior of hatchery fish.
5. Ensure that hatchery fish produced for harvest can be separated by time, place or marking so that selective fishing can occur while safeguarding natural stocks.
A recent article in
The Seattle Times gave the impression our report was primarily an indictment of hatcheries, or a call for closures. Our emphasis is the opposite. Hatcheries can play a crucial preservation role. And in most cases, fisheries will only continue if hatcheries continue. The question is how? We do state that some hatcheries, due to location, water quality or other factors may not be appropriate.
Hatcheries, of course, are only part of the solution for rebuilding natural salmon and steelhead stocks. Healthy habitat is also essential for survival of both wild and hatchery fish. Finally, fisheries must be capable of targeting harvestable fish while avoiding impacts on stocks in need of protection. But we believe hatcheries - albeit operating under new scientific systems and goals - will be one of the major reasons we succeed in saving this great and precious resource.
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