FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 16, 1997
Contact person: Bill M. Bakke, Director (503) 977-0287
The Native Fish Society is a regional conservation group
Portland - Yesterday, the Independent Science Panel working for the N.W. Power Planning Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service recommended that no new hatcheries be constructed in the Columbia Basin until specific steps were taken to protect wild, native salmon. The Science Panel noted that nine measures, adopted by the Power Planning Council in their 1994 Salmon Recovery Plan, to protect biological diversity of wild salmonids in the Columbia River had not been carried out by the fish agencies and tribes. But these same fish management agencies are proposing to spend 41 percent of the fish and wildlife program budget of $127 million on hatcheries in 1998. Only 3 percent of the budget is earmarked for carrying out biological diversity studies.
"The fish management agencies and tribes refuse to protect wild native salmon runs in the Columbia River," says Bill Bakke, Director of the Native Fish Society, "and this has been going on since 1984 when these agencies proposed the first program to save salmon in the Columbia River. The fish agencies and tribes want to make the Columbia safe for hatchery salmon to subsidize their commercial fisheries. These agencies and tribes have never shown an interest in protecting native salmon, the biological diversity and opportunities they represent, and the benefits they provide society."
Power Planning Council staff also noted cost overruns for hatchery projects being developed by the fish agencies and tribes. Some of the cost overruns are: Yakima hatchery construction 224%, Yakima Hatchery final design 471%, Johnson Creek Hatchery 324%, Grande Ronde Captive Brood Stock Hatchery 139%.
A recent evaluation of the hatchery program by Council staff shows that N.W. Power Planning Council supported hatcheries are producing salmon that cost $104, 000 per adult. These are the most expensive fish in the world. The fish agencies and tribes spent $63 million planning the Yakima Hatchery and it will cost over $100 million before it is finished. These are the most expensive hatcheries in the world. While these excessively expensive hatcheries are being developed, the salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia continue to decline, go extinct, and some have been listed as federal protected species.
"Very little of this money is being spent to protect native, wild salmon," says Bill Bakke, "the fish management agencies and tribes are perpetuating the carnage of Columbia River salmon runs and being paid well to do it. The fishers sit on the beach practicing conservation while the fish biologists continue to cash their pay checks. The hatcheries cannot be used to restore wild salmon runs as the fish agencies and tribes claim. The peer reviewed scientific literature does not support their claim. For example, one 17 year study in Washington State shows that hatchery salmonid survival is 90% less than for wild salmonids in the river. This is because the hatchery salmon are not as fit, that is, they are no longer able to live in nature.
The Independent Science Panel is providing the N.W. Power Planning Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service with the first scientific review of the Columbia River salmon recovery program supported by rate payer dollars. Their review not only notes the problem with hatcheries but is critical of most fish agency and tribal salmon recovery projects because they cannot be scientifically evaluated to determine whether they are working and a good use of the money.
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