JEFFREY P. MAYOR; jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com Published: March 13th, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: March 13th, 2008 08:17 AM
The state now has a foundation for its efforts to restore the state's steelhead runs. The state Fish and Wildlife Commission last week approved a new steelhead management plan.
The plan, developed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, sets out a variety of new conservation policies to guide fisheries management, hatchery operations and habitat-restoration programs.
The plan, developed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, sets out a variety of new conservation policies to guide fisheries management, hatchery operations and habitat-restoration programs.
Those policies provide a framework for regional management plans that will detail measures needed to protect and restore wild steelhead stocks in watersheds around the state.
Key elements of the plan are:
• That protection and restoration of wild steelhead stocks is the state's highest priority in all aspects of steelhead management.
• Specific limits on genetic mixing between hatchery steelhead and wild fish in different types of hatchery operations. It also calls for the establishment of in-stream "gene banks" where wild stocks are protected from interaction with hatchery fish.
• A new focus on protecting wild steelhead through habitat-restoration programs and state fish-passage laws.
• The department will establish performance goals for each wild steelhead stock and benchmarks for achieving them.
"This is an important step in a long-term effort to protect and restore wild steelhead stocks in our state," said Jerry Gutzwiler, commission chairman. "We still have strong returns of wild steelhead in some areas of the state, but we can't afford to be complacent. We have a responsibility to make sure wild steelhead have a future throughout the state."
The plan is a good first step, said Rich Simms, president of the Wild Steelhead Coalition. The group was involved in the four-year process of developing this plan.
"Washington's wild steelhead populations are at a tipping point. Bold new strategies are going to be needed to meet the plan's goals," Simms said. "We're optimistic that in the department's policy that the wild steelhead will come from first. But strong action will have to take place, not only from the department but the other stakeholders."
An assessment by the department found more than 90 percent of the wild steelhead runs on the Olympic Peninsula and 60 percent in southwest Washington to be "healthy." But since 1992, steelhead returning to the Columbia and Snake rivers – and, as of last year, Puget Sound – have been listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The new plan establishes several new standards for hatchery programs, including limits on levels of genetic mixing between hatchery steelhead and wild fish. Meeting those standards may require reducing or altering hatchery production, which could affect the availability of hatchery fish for anglers, said department director Jeff Koenings.
"The new steelhead plan recognizes the value of state fisheries, but reinforces the idea that conservation of wild stocks has to be our first priority," Koenings said. "That same theme will be reflected in the regional management plans, which will essentially establish steelhead action plans for seven areas of the state."
Those regional plans are scheduled for completion in 2010-2011, Koenings said. As with the statewide plan, the public will have an opportunity to participate in their development.
"We'll keep involved and work to make sure the department sticks to it, that we'll continue to make the best decisions based on sound science to assure the recovery of wild steelhead," Simms said.
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640
blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure
To learn more
Information on the statewide steelhead plan is available at wdfw.wa.gov/fish/steelhead/index.htm.
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