Fishing News
Report Suggests Reforms For Area Fish Hatcheries
By Jennifer Langston, [email protected]
Fish hatcheries on the Stillaguamish and Snohomish rivers may change the way they operate -- and get new money for upgrades -- based on recommendations released Tuesday.
A team of scientists released suggestions to help hatcheries in the Puget Sound region produce adequate runs of hatchery fish that tribes and fisherman can catch without harming wild, native fish.
Gov. Gary Locke pledged to include $8 million in his economic stimulus package to help upgrade hatcheries, and the state's top wildlife official promised to implement the reforms.
As part of the Hatchery Reform Project funded by Congress two years ago, scientists reviewed 15 state and tribal hatchery programs in Snohomish County alone. They recommend nearly 100 specific changes.
Those include suspending some efforts until they can determine whether hatchery salmon are intermingling with wild stocks, upgrading some hatcheries and rearing ponds to reduce death rates and the spread of disease, and ending some planting programs that aren't beneficial.
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