Hatchery trout have their place, just not in the McKenzie

BY DAVID VÁZQUEZ AND SCOTT KINNEY

Appeared in print: Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009

In the Sept. 17 Register-Guard, Matt Stansberry and Chris Daughters advocated removing hatchery trout from the McKenzie River. Simply put, stocked trout are harming the McKenzie’s wild trout populations. The solution would seem obvious: Stop planting trout in the McKenzie. However, several groups, including the McKenzie Guides’ Association, advocate stocking, as they derive financial benefits from the program. The only party outside of the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife that has direct input on the inner workings of the McKenzie stocking program is the McKenzie Guides’ Association. Every January, three association representatives meet with the state and decide where and when to plant trout in the McKen?zie. The guides stock from boats, frequently placing fish in areas inaccessible to the non-boating public. When the guides run trips, they direct clients to these areas. When clients catch fish, they’re happy. Client satisfaction provides revenue for the Guides’ Association. The current system preserves the maximum number of trout for Guides’ Association clients, rather than distributing the fish for all. Hatchery trout are not the property of the guides, even though “regular” anglers may never see fish stocked by them. It’s not just anglers who should be disturbed. The cost for stocked trout in the McKen?zie is borne by every Oregon taxpayer. Funds for hatcheries in the Upper Willamette District come from federal flood control project remediation funds. In effect, the McKenzie guides, and the negative effects of hatchery trout on wild fish, are being subsidized by all of us.

Luckily, there is an easy solution. The state has known for more than 20 years that hatchery trout are hurting the McKenzie and that the most expedient remedy would be to stop stocking the river. The 1988 McKenzie Basin Management Plan stated, “Wild trout are considered to be least abundant in (the stocked section of Forest Glen to Hayden Bridge) compared to other sections of the mainstem. “Competition between hatchery and wild trout and angling pressure generated by the releases of hatchery trout will continue to suppress wild trout production below its potential.”

The current plan requires that the middle McKenzie be managed for “the natural production of cutthroat trout and rainbow trout.” Since the plan was written in 1988 and revised in 1997, all wild fish populations, except bull trout, have shown marked decreases. Few if any remediation measures have been taken. Many factors in addition to stocked trout undoubtedly contribute to the declines, including depressed salmon returns and decreased nutrient load, riverfront development, and overfishing. However, the states’s own management plans implicate hatchery trout as the main barrier to healthy wild populations. The science is simple: When Fish and Wildlife plants hundreds of thousands of hatchery trout, they simply outnumber (and thereby outcompete) wild rainbow and cutthroat trout, Endangered Species Act-listed bull trout and spring chinook salmon rearing in the river. The current plan spells out what it will take to increase wild fish populations in the middle McKenzie: a decrease or elimination of stocked fish. Yet hatchery trout continue to be stocked in the McKenzie. This is not an attack on the policy of stocking in general. Stocked trout have their place in local lakes and ponds, where they can be caught easily by the public. Redirecting the fish currently stocked in the McKenzie into local stillwaters will ensure that the state, as well as Oregon anglers and taxpayers, get their money’s worth from hatchery fish propagation. Only about 30 percent of the trout stocked into the McKenzie are caught. The remaining 70 percent are lost to natural causes before ever reaching the creel. In contrast, nearly all fish planted in lakes and ponds are caught. Stocked stillwaters are accessible to anglers of all ages and abilities — no boat, car or all-day paid fishing trip required! Trout can be stocked in stillwaters year-round, opening up additional angling opportunity to the public. The McKenzie Guides’ Association also stands to benefit by endorsing the state’s McKenzie Management plan. Guides and their clients still could fish for wild fish (which are perceived by many anglers to be a superior quarry). Even better, guides could charge premium prices for the experience as wild fish populations increase. The assumption that wild fish would increase as hatchery fish are removed is not an unsupported claim. The state’s own biologists have stated publicly that wild fish would migrate quickly into areas overrun with hatchery fish. Nothing proves this point more than the strong populations of rainbow and cutthroat trout in the lower and upper McKenzie, where hatchery fish are not planted. Oregon’s blue-ribbon Metolius and Deschutes rivers are examples of a rapid recovery of wild populations after the elimination of hatchery plants. The state’s own McKenzie management policy spells out the road to recovery in a single, easy step: Remove stocked trout from the McKenzie. All we need to do now is follow it.

David Vázquez is an angler and assistant professor of English at the University of Oregon.

Scott Kinney is an angler and former fishing guide.

Opening the Klamath

[ reprinted from The San Fransisco Chronicle ]

Thursday, October 1, 2009

An agreement to demolish four dams on the upper Klamath River is nothing short of amazing. The project will be the largest such removal project on the planet, the risks and advantages are largely unproved, yet a contentious army of interest groups have ended a major fight in the Western water wars.

The removals, handled carefully, could set the stage for a broader change. Four dams on the Snake River in Washington state are being eyed for demolition, and soon fresh flows from Friant Dam near Fresno will fill long-dry sections of the San Joaquin River. These pillars of water policy are ripe for reappraisal.

For the Klamath dams, stretching across the California and Oregon border, the issue is plummeting salmon stocks. Despite a nearby fish hatchery, the dams have cut off 300 miles of fish-rearing habitat for the sake of irrigation and power generation. The fight began in 2002 when water diversions led to the death of 33,000 migrating fish. This year, California has banned open-water salmon fishing to protect salmon.

Ripping out the dams, sensibly, won't happen overnight. By 2020, after lengthy study and more approvals by the Interior Department, the demolition work could begin.

The issues are many. Oregon farmers want water from Klamath Lake at the top of the river. Tribes and fishing groups want steady flows and revived salmon runs, which could come from a dam-free Klamath. The dam's owner, PacifiCorp, will pay up to $200 million in ratepayer fees for removal, a better price than refitting the dams with fish-friendly ladders and other features.

Taking down the four medium-size structures will be an experiment. Sediment backed up for nearly a century behind the dam walls must be removed lest it run downriver to smother existing salmon-rearing areas. California voters will likely be asked to approve a $250 million bond measure to pay for other removal costs.

The biggest question of all: Will the restored stretch of river spur the return of salmon to the Klamath, once the third-most productive river after the Columbia and Sacramento? It's a question no one dared to dream of asking before the remarkable agreement reached this week.

This article appeared on page A - 14 of The San Francisco Chronicle

Copper-Salmon Wilderness Act passes House

Sportsmen celebrate as Elk River headwaters gain permanent protection

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, the bill that contains the Copper-Salmon Wilderness Act that permanently protects about 14,000 acres in the headwaters of southern Oregon’s Elk River.

“This is hugely important for Oregon’s sportsmen and women, and particularly for the fishing community in Port Orford that depends on the Elk River and its prized salmon and steelhead for economic subsistence,” said Mike Beagle, Trout Unlimited’s Oregon/Washington field coordinator based in Medford, Ore. “We are grateful to Sen. Wyden and Rep. DeFazio for their help in protecting one of the best remaining salmon and steelhead fisheries on the West Coast—they’ve done a huge favor for sportsmen, both today, and for generations to come.”

The Copper-Salmon Wilderness encompasses the largely undeveloped headwaters of the Elk River. Downstream, the Elk is one of the healthiest coastal rivers left in the state, and that’s due to the intact spawning and rearing habitat in its upstream reaches. The old-growth timber in the newly created wilderness provides shelter for migrating and spawning fish. Because of the healthy and intact headwaters, the lower river remains fishable, even in times of heavy rain.

“This is very significant for our community and for the anglers who come from all over the Northwest to experience the trophy fishing in the Elk River,” said Jim Rogers, a retired forester who lives in Port Orford. “I can’t think of a better way to protect this river in perpetuity—not only does this wilderness protect the river and the fishery, it protects our way of life. We’re so thankful to our delegation for sticking with us during this long and challenging effort to protect the Elk River.”

The omnibus act took a long, winding route through Congress. It was first considered—and passed—by the House in the fall of 2008, but things stalled in the Senate. In January, the bill passed the Senate, but failed to get the needed two-thirds majority in the House two weeks ago, when it was considered under suspension of rules. It went back to the Senate, where it was included as an amendment to a bill that had already passed the House—it passed the Senate last week with flying colors. Today’s vote in the House sends the bill to President Obama—once it gets the president’s signature, it will become the law of the land.

“To know that all the hard work that went into getting this bill written and then through Congress has finally paid off is very gratifying,” Beagle said. “This bill is a sportsmen’s bill through and through, and it proves that anglers and hunters have found their voice. We’re just grateful that the right people listened.”

UPDATE:

Obama signs wilderness bill, adding protection to 200,000 acres in Oregon

by Charles Pope, The Oregonian

Monday March 30, 2009, 2:38 PM

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama signed into law today the largest conservation legislation in a generation, providing a happy ending to a frustrating six-year quest for Oregon supporters who worked to provide stronger protections to 200,000 acres of public land in the state and millions more nationwide.

"This legislation ... guarantees that we will not take our forests, rivers, oceans, national parks, monuments, and wilderness areas for granted; but rather we will set them aside and guard their sanctity for everyone to share,'' Obama said. "That's something all Americans can support.''

Read more HERE

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

March 28, 2009

Scientists: Reform needed for salmon hatcheries

By JEFF BARNARD - AP ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Salmon produced by hatcheries in the Columbia Basin are no substitute for salmon spawned naturally in rivers, but can still help restore wild runs if significant changes are made, a team of scientists reported Friday to Congress.

The report said fish spawned in the wild have the genetic diversity to weather changes in their environment, but 130 years of substituting hatcheries for habitat has produced fish that are slowing efforts to restore dwindling runs.

"If hatcheries continue to be operated the way they are, the plight of natural populations may become worse rather than better," said Lars Mobrand, a Seattle consultant and former chairman of the review group.

The same narrowing of genetic variation was blamed partly for the crash last year of fall chinook on the Sacramento River in California, which led to a shutdown of sport and commercial ocean fishing off California and most of Oregon.

"We have so narrowed the genetic makeup of these populations that when we see things like changing ocean conditions and perhaps even climate change we don't have the ability for salmon to adapt to those things," said Peter Paquet, a member of the Hatchery Scientific Review Group. "Historically, salmon have been good at this - they have been for 10,000 years of various climate conditions."

The report, prepared at the behest of Congress, said outdated hatchery practices should be changed so that they focus on broadening genetic diversity and reducing the harm to wild runs, rather than pumping out the most young fish possible.

Studies have shown that hatchery fish produce up to 50 percent fewer eggs than wild fish when they spawn in the wild, and that behavioral characteristics that help fish thrive in hatcheries can make them less successful in the wild.

The Hatchery Scientific Review Group spent two years reviewing 358 populations of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin and hatcheries producing 178 strains of fish.

They found most hatcheries are still operating to outdated standards, and some are so poorly maintained they violate environmental laws with their discharges.

Recommendations focused on ways to maintain and expand genetic diversity among fish, such as using wild fish from local waters to spawn young fish, and taking steps to prevent hatchery fish and wild fish from mixing on spawning grounds.

The panel said reforming hatchery practices would increase salmon runs more quickly than habitat restoration, and combined with habitat restoration would trigger stronger improvements than either one by itself.

Basin hatcheries date to 1877. Dozens are now operated by states, tribes, utilities and the federal government - intended to make up for spawning and rearing habitat destroyed by dams, logging, agriculture, and urban development as the Northwest's population has grown.

More than 80 percent of fish returning to the mouth of the Columbia are spawned in hatcheries, and 13 wild runs are protected by the Endangered Species Act.

For many years, no thought was given to preserving the range of genetic variations in fish that makes them succeed in a variety of conditions. The first ones into the hatchery were stripped of their eggs for the next generation. The others were dumped in landfills, or given to food banks.

Columbia Basin treaty tribes greeted the report warily. The recommendations would require changing hatchery production goals and harvest rates set by treaties and court cases.

"It is important that this report be taken as a tool, not a mandate," said Kathryn Brigham of the Umatilla Tribe. "We're not afraid of science. We've used our science to rebuild salmon runs."

Glen Spain, who represents California commercial salmon fishermen, said they welcomed reforms of hatcheries, but more federal funding was needed to bring many of them into the 21st century after years of neglect.

The report was welcomed by the governors of Oregon and Washington, and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.

"Our wild salmon and steelhead runs are in peril and must be protected with a paradigm shift in hatchery practices that promotes conservation," said Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

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