Fish hatcheries: A 19th century fix that won’t die
March 30, 2015
On Thursday, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced that after 11 years, it would withdrawal the Puget Sound hatcheries draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Instead, it issued a draft environmental assessment for releasing Chambers Creek steelhead into the Nooksack, Dungeness and Stillaguamish watersheds. An environmental assessment sets a much lower bar than an EIS. The comment period for this one closes April 27.
The hatchery status quo in Washington continues to try and move forward with a broken system. In a recently released article by Daniel Chasan at Crosscut.com, the current state of Washington hatcheries is evaluated. Check out Pt 1: Fish hatcheries: A 19th century fix that won’t die & Pt 2: Hatcheries flow on despite the evidence they harm salmon recovery.
