Editorial: Tokul Creek Hatchery closure needs explaining
September 18, 2008
By Editorial Board
The lack of answers from staff of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding the closure of the Tokul Creek Hatchery in Fall City is unacceptable.
WDFW officials met with a crowd of sports fishermen and others last week to explain why the state would propose closing the hatchery in hopes of increasing the population of native wild steelhead on the Snoqualmie River. Their questions were not satisfactorily answered.
Repeatedly the question of “where’s the science?” was asked about the proposed decision to leave hatchery-raised steelhead out of the river.
This we know: if the state wanted to add a fish hatchery to a watershed basin, it would likely require an exhaustive environmental impact statement. It seems to us that removing a hatchery should warrant the same scrutiny.
How many native steelhead are currently in the Snoqualmie watershed, as opposed to those who have cross-bred with hatchery steelhead for decades? Without the hatchery, how long would it be before steelhead populations return to current levels (including the 190,000 hatchery fish released annually) and the river is open to sports fishing? What would the economic loss be to the state for fishing licenses and to the local economy for fishing gear, travel, etc. until then?
We understand that WDFW’s motivation is to comply with the federal laws regarding the Endangered Species Act as it applies to wild steelhead, but WDFW has not set reasonable expectations based on science. If they have the facts and a solid plan, officials don’t seem willing to share them with the public.
The public, however, was quite determined to communicate openly with WDFW last week. Many anglers made it clear that native or not is immaterial to them. What matters is whether there are healthy fish in the river when they let their fishing line fly across the rapids in search of the mighty steelhead to challenge their talents with a rod and reel.
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