Interior Secretary Gale Norton told 500 delegates to the first National Fisheries Leadership Conference today that "help is on the way" for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services 69 national fish hatcheries and that President Bush will seek a 16 percent increase $8.1 million in the systems budget for 2004.
"The proposed budget increase will help to recover imperiled fish species, increase recreation opportunities for anglers, eradicate invasive fish populations and repair aging infrastructure at fish hatcheries across the nation," Secretary Norton said.
The conference is the first for a Fish and Wildlife Service program that traces its roots to the U.S. Fish Commission, established under the Grant administration in 1871, and was called principally to unveil the programs years-in-the-making Strategic Vision, which will be a blueprint for the fisheries program at the start of this century.
Norton told the conference that she was impressed by the work on the programs Strategic Vision document because she considers it "a clear illustration of the guidance I believe is necessary for everything we do at the Department of the Interior. I am pleased you used what I call the 4Cs, communication, consultation and cooperation, all in the service of conservation."
"Hatchery managers have labored to come up with a strategic plan that has convinced the Office of Management and Budget that it is time to increase your funding," Norton told the conference at their Washington meeting.
"Now it is going to be up to you to follow the strategic planning and thinking you have done, with follow-through and results."
The Vision document is an outgrowth of an effort that began in 1999, when the Service asked the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, a federally chartered advisory group to the Interior Secretary, to offer recommendations about the role and mission of the National Fish Hatchery System. The Council, composed of representatives from state and other federal agencies, Native American tribes, conservation organizations, private industry and academia, went on to complete a second set of recommendations for the entire fisheries program.
"The Fisheries Program is the oldest conservation effort in the federal government, and as Director Steve Williams reminds me, it began with a simple premise: keep fish in our rivers and streams," Secretary Norton said.
Norton gave special attention to recreational fishing, noting that of the $108 billion that Americans spent on wildlife-related activities in 2001, $35 billion came from fishing.
Norton reminded the conference that too often in the past, performance measures were not part of the mix for federal programs and that goals were not clearly articulated and things not always well managed.
"Today, we have a president and vice president who both like to fish and who understand fish stories and battles. That same fisherman president had brought a new direction with him, a direction based on the fact that he is also a president with a masters in business administration and understands performance measures and the bottom line," Secretary Norton said.
With a third of the nations freshwater fish threatened or endangered, Norton said she is sympathetic to the work that the Fisheries Program and the Service are doing. "Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams understands and shares your work and your vision ? and so do I. I have every faith in your ability to accomplish your vision and your goals. And in your ability to work with your partners to restore habitats and move fish populations toward recovery, to battle invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species and improve fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.
Learn more about fish passage ."
The following is a breakdown of the $8.1 million proposed increase: National Fish Hatchery System
The president will request a funding increase of $8.1 million for the National Fish Hatchery System. The budget request for 2003 was $35.7 million. The president will ask for $40.8 million in the Administrations 2004 request. The Fisheries program, "Vision for the Future," will be implemented through increased funding for hatchery operations (+$5.0 million) and hatchery maintenance (+$3.0 million). Increased funding will be used to implement additional priority recovery and restoration tasks prescribed in approved Recovery Plans and fishery management plans; increase fishing opportunities for the public through enhanced restoration activities; and improve the hatchery systems aging infrastructure to good and fair operational conditions to meet fishery management and recovery plan requirements.
Operations (+$5.0 million)
The Fish and Wildlife Service will use $1.6 million to implement 25 priority projects addressing hatchery recovery objectives, such as increasing hatchery production and genetic refugia for listed species including pallid sturgeon and greenback cutthroat trout. Sample projects include the following:
* $55,000 to recover threatened mussel populations of the Upper Mississippi River basin; develop propagation techniques of fish hosts and juvenile mussels to be placed in suitable habitat (Genoa NFH, WI)
* $95,000 to develop propagation techniques and refugia for Atlantic sturgeon (Bears Bluff NFH, SC).
* $45,000 to establish captive broodstock broodstock
The reproductively mature adults in a population that breed (or spawn) and produce more individuals (offspring or progeny).
Learn more about broodstock of threatened greenback cutthroat trout (Saratoga NFH, WY).
The Service will use $2.5 million to implement 32 priority projects that address restoration/recreation objectives, such as restoring declining species to preclude future listing and providing the American people with quality recreational opportunities. Sample projects include the following:
* $112,000 to develop and maintain a captive spawning population of native coaster brook trout and support production (Iron River NFH, WI).
* $67,000 to inventory existing populations and habitat to assess potential restoration of native brook trout in suitable Cherokee Indian Reservation waters (Erwin NFH, TN).
* $53,000 to develop and maintain a captive broodstock for Big Hole River fluvial Arctic grayling (Bozeman FTC, MT).
* $56,000 to restore paddlefish to Tribal Waters in South Dakota (Gavins Point NFH, SD).
The Service will use $0.9 million to implement 16 priority projects that address applied science and technology. Sample projects include:
* $28,000 to perform standardized tests on wild and hatchery salmon captured in the Methow River System to assess impacts of hatchery fish on wild populations (Olympia FHC, WA).
* $56,000 to ensure imperiled native fish species being move to and from NFHs are free of destructive pathogenic organisms to prevent losses (Pinetop FHC, AZ).
Maintenance (+$3.0 million)
Efforts will largely center on bringing critical water management structures back into proper operational condition.
The Service will use $2.5 million to implement 16 high priority deferred maintenance projects. Sample projects include the following:
* $117,000 to complete needed modifications to the existing fish ladder, passageway and channel to the hatchery water supply and prevent the wrong fish from entering the hatcherys fish production ponds (Quinnault NFH, WA).
* $450,000 replace the intake structure structure
Something temporarily or permanently constructed, built, or placed; and constructed of natural or manufactured parts including, but not limited to, a building, shed, cabin, porch, bridge, walkway, stair steps, sign, landing, platform, dock, rack, fence, telecommunication device, antennae, fish cleaning table, satellite dish/mount, or well head.
Learn more about structure and pipeline to meet Atlantic salmon recovery goals (Craig Brook NFH, ME).
* The remaining $0.5 million will enable the Service to complete Condition Assessments on 75 percent of the hatchery stations by 2003.
Aquatic Invasive Species
Funding to control the spread of aquatic invasive species will be increased by $1.0 million, from the 2003 request of $4.7 million to $5.7 million.
Sample projects include the following:
* Conduct risk assessments to evaluate at least two new non-native species that threaten aquatic populations and habitats (the snakehead fish was done in 2002; the bighead and silver carp will be done in 2003).
* Work with state, federal and local partners to develop and implement a management plan to address the continued spread of Asian carp species.
