Welcome
About the ProjectIn the past 150 years, habitat alterations, hydroelectric development and consumptive fisheries have impacted most of the salmon and steelhead populations in the Pacific Northwest. To mitigate for those impacts, hatcheries have been used to increase the number of fish available for harvest. However, long-term conservation needs of natural salmonid populations and their inherent genetic resources require a re-examination of the role of hatcheries in basin-wide management and conservation strategies. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) proactively initiated a series of hatchery reviews in May 2005 to assure that fish rearing programs its 21 Columbia River hatchery facilities are part of an integrated and science-based strategy — consistent with broader State, Tribal, and Federal strategies — for conserving wild stocks and managing fisheries in watersheds within the Columbia River Basin. These reviews are tailored after a successful process recently implemented in Puget Sound and Coastal Washington watersheds. We plan to complete this series of reviews in late 2009. The Service’s Hatchery Review Team completed the first of these reviews as a pilot in May 2006, on the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery; a spring Chinook hatchery located in the Deschutes River Basin of central Oregon. The team then completed their review of Service hatchery programs in themid-Columbia area of eastern Washington (Leavenworth, Entiat, and Winthrop National Fish Hatcheries) in April 2007. The review of Eagle Creek NFH located on the Clackamas River near Estacada, Oregon was completed in July 2007. The team completed the final report and recommendations for Columbia Gorge facilities in December 2007 (Carson, Little White Salmon, Spring Creek and Willard National Fish Hatcheries). See the Reports and Publications page of this website to view final reports and supporting documents. "Our goal is to ensure that our hatcheries are operated on the best scientific principles and contribute to sustainable fisheries and the recovery of naturally spawning populations of salmon," said Dan Diggs, Assistant Regional Director of the regional fisheries program. The Hatchery Review Team, comprised of Service and other federal scientists (NOAA & USGS) are conducting field tours with hatchery managers and their staffs, reviewing hatchery operations, and meeting with the comanaging agencies and tribes to gain a clear understanding of the goals for and status of each wild and hatchery population and associated habitat and management strategies. The Review Team is applying the Puget Sound and Coastal Washington Hatchery Scientific Review Group's scientific framework and hatchery review tools to develop reform recommendations for each hatchery program. We believe the hatchery review process developed in western Washington has provided both a solid template and operational tools (e.g., software spreadsheets, population dynamic models) for reviewing Service hatcheries in the Columbia River Basin. We also have found that much of the background information necessary for reviewing Service hatcheries in the Columbia River Basin has already been compiled in Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans, Comprehensive Hatchery Management Plans and the Artificial Propagation Review and Evaluation (APRE) database developed by the Northwest Planning andConservation Council (NWPCC). The current phase of the review process is concentrating on Service operated NFHs and other Service owned hatchery facilities operated by co-managers in the Lower Snake River Basin. Progress reports and announcements of upcoming meetings can be found on the Stakeholder News page of this website. The Service has recently formed a second review team to complete recommendations for NFHs on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. Information about that review can also be found on this website. More information about this review contact Don Campton at 360-425-6072 ext. 311 or by e-mail at don campton @fws.gov. This website will be updated periodically so that you can monitor the progress of these reviews. |
