Contact: Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy, 206-310-9301
Brian Knutsen, Smith and Lowney, PLLC, 503-287-4194
For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 9, 2012
Citing warnings from agency and independent scientists, four conservation groups filed suit today against several federal agencies and officials of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (in their official capacities) for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and ignoring the best available science and threatening the recovery of killer whales, Chinook salmon, and native steelhead by funding and operating fish hatchery programs in the Elwha River. The groups agree with federal and state scientists and a recent review by the Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG) that restoration of the lower Elwha River and recolonization of the pristine upper Elwha River above Elwha and Glines Canyon dams should prioritize recovery of wild fish. The proposed reliance on large-scale hatchery releases undermines ecosystem recovery and violates the ESA. Wild Fish Conservancy, The Conservation Angler, the Federation of Fly Fishers Steelhead Committee, and the Wild Steelhead Coalition have brought the suit against the Olympic National Park, NOAA Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and representatives of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.
The federal government is spending nearly $325 million for the dam removal project, opening nearly ninety miles of pristine riverine habitat in Olympic National Park, much of which is designated a wilderness area. Rather than allowing wild salmonids to naturally colonize this pristine habitat, the agencies and the Tribe are going ahead with a plan that will release approximately four million juvenile hatchery salmonids annually throughout the recovery, including the continued release of non-native steelhead during a five-year fishing moratorium. The hatchery releases will be supported by a new fish hatchery on the Elwha River built with $16.4 million of Stimulus Act funds. State and federal agency scientists pointed out that the current plan gives no measureable goals for wild fish recovery, provides no timetable for ceasing the hatchery production, and that ultimately, wild fish recovery is going to be hampered by the hatchery fish. A review released this week by the independent Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG), which was organized and funded by Congress, has echoed these concerns.
“While the Tribe played an essential role in removing the dams,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy, “their intent to now plant millions of hatchery fish in disregard of the scientific evidence undermines salmon recovery in the Northwest and the goals of the ESA. However you look at it, it’s a horrible precedent if left to stand.”
Will Atlas, chair of the FFF Steelhead Committee, stated “The science does not support planting of hatchery fish into this productive, pristine habitat.”
“This action is necessary,” said Rich Simms, president of the Wild Steelhead Coalition, “so that wild, not hatchery, steelhead will be restored to the Elwha and the Olympic Wilderness."
“Their plan is vague and uncertain about how and when these hatchery interventions will end,” said Pete Soverel, president of The Conservation Angler. “The Elwha deserves far better but will end up compromised like most of our other rivers if this plan is implemented.”
The groups believe that spending $325 million to open a wilderness watershed but then stocking it with hatchery fish is poor public policy and will likely provoke taxpayer skepticism toward salmon recovery and future efforts at dam removal. The groups support the right of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to harvest salmon and steelhead, but argue that intensive hatchery production throughout the recovery will reduce the capacity of wild salmon and steelhead to recolonize the newly available habitat, harming ESA listed Puget Sound steelhead, Chinook salmon, and southern resident killer whales that depend on Chinook salmon for their survival.
The groups are represented by Smith and Lowney, PLLC, of Seattle.
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Yesterday a leaked manuscript revealed that the Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISAv) was detected in B.C. as early as 2004, and that Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada personnel refused to release the information. This comes just a month after Canadian officials aggressively denied that the virus was present in B.C. and trumpeted their rigorous efforts to detect it and protect native salmon. Last week the Canadian government announced a $1 million grant to the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance for international advertising.
The detection of ISAv would not have occurred without the efforts of independent scientists Drs. Alexandra Morton and Rick Rutledge, and the Salmon are Sacred volunteer group in B.C., who collected the samples from juvenile sockeye salmon and adult Chinook, coho and chum salmon that were positive. This highlights the need for a joint U.S. – Canadian task force that includes independent, non-government scientists to address the problem. “The DFO has a split mandate, one that includes the promotion of aquaculture and which has interfered with their responsibility to protect wild salmon,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC). “Unfortunately, we have a similar situation in the U.S. - NOAA also has a pro-aquaculture division that works at odds with the scientists studying salmon conservation. Until this split mandate is removed, oversight cannot be left solely to government.”
The leaked manuscript reported finding ISAv in several species of Pacific salmon from the Fraser River north through SE Alaska up to the Bering Sea. Dr. Todd Sandell, a disease ecologist at the WFC, noted that “Given the proximity of the Fraser River to the border, it is a near certainty that ISAv will also be found in Washington state.” WFC began collecting samples for ISAv testing from the Skagit River in November, but so far U.S. state and federal agencies have not taken action.
ISAv has devastated Atlantic salmon aquaculture across the North Atlantic, but wild salmon populations in those areas are minute in comparison with the remaining wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest. In Chile, where ISAv has also been hugely problematic, there are no wild salmon as salmon are not native to South America. This makes the situation facing the Pacific Northwest unique, and one that must be handled with great caution. Since ISAv is known to increase its virulence in the high density conditions found in aquaculture and hatcheries, the safest remedy is to move aquaculture facilities onto land, where escape can be prevented and the effluent, which may contain pathogens, can be sterilized.
A typical response of the salmon aquaculture industry is to highlight the need for aquaculture to “feed the world” in the face of a growing human population, in effect arguing that ocean net pens are necessary regardless of the costs. However, raising a carnivorous species like salmon is not ecologically defensible; salmon must be fed 5-6 lbs. of other fish, typically herring, anchovy or other baitfish, to add one pound of weight. Capturing the baitfish needed to feed farmed salmon also reduces the amount of food available for wild fish. In contrast, fish species that feed on lower trophic levels, like plankton, are a much more efficient solution and are widely grown globally.
Wild Fish Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and conservation of the Northwest region’s wild-fish ecosystems, with over 2,500 members. Wild Fish Conservancy’s staff of over 20 professional scientists, advocates, and educators works to promote technically and socially responsible habitat, hatchery, and harvest management to better sustain the region’s wild fish heritage. For more information, visit us at wildfishconservancy.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/wildfishconservancy.
PO Box 402 Duvall, WA 98019 · Tel 425-788-1167 · Fax 425-788-9634 info@wildfishconservancy.org
Contact: Todd Sandell, Wild Fish Conservancy, 206-707-2979
Dr. James Winton, U.S. Geological Survey-Western Fisheries Research Center, 206-526-6587
Dr. Fred Kibenge, Atlantic Veterinary College-University of Prince Edward Island, 902-566-0967
For Immediate Release: Friday, October 28, 2011
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has released a report detailing another detection of Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (ISAv) in British Columbia, this time isolated from an adult coho salmon. The “situation report - internal” was sent to members of the Cohen Commission (and apparently some officials from NOAA and the USFWS) on October 24th by Dr. Cornelius Kiley and discusses samples analyzed by the laboratory of Dr. Fred Kibenge, which serves as the World Organization for Animal Health‟s ISAv reference laboratory in the western hemisphere. The report claims Dr. Kibenge‟s findings of samples “interpreted as positive” remain “unconfirmed”, but does not specify how they intend to confirm the result or any further plans to test wild and net pen salmon in B.C.
Until recently, ISAv infection in the western hemisphere was thought to be limited to Atlantic salmon on the east coast of North America, where it was introduced via the importation of infected eggs from northern Europe. However, a devastating Norwegian-strain ISAv outbreak among net pen reared coho salmon occurred in Chile in 2007, and on October 15th the European strain of the virus was detected in juvenile sockeye salmon from Rivers Inlet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, B.C. There was no information on the geographic origin of the ISAv strain detected in this newest CFIA report. The presence of either strain of ISAv in the Pacific Northwest poses a serious threat to native salmon species that are already in decline or endangered.
The B.C. salmon aquaculture industry denies that there is a problem. Although they reported over 1000 cases of ISAv – like symptoms among farmed Atlantic salmon, they now suggest that these were from an avirulent strain of ISAv and do not pose a threat, though the fish were dying of an infection when the samples were taken. A recent article from the Journal of General Virology acknowledges the threat:
Arguably the most important question for fish-health managers regards the risk that the presence of low pathogenic ISAV-HPR0 presents for the development of highly pathogenic ISAV and ISA disease. ISAV-HPR0 has been proposed to be the ancestor of highly pathogenic ISAV that is capable of causing disease in Atlantic salmon farms, and probably undergoes an adaptation event in association with intensive aquaculture…The virus is thus well equipped to adapt to the highly selective environment associated with aquaculture, which includes evolutionary pressures such as high host abundance and continuous availability, high rearing densities and exposure of naive hosts to new pathogens. Such factors are known to drive the faster evolution of other fish RNA viruses within aquaculture, such as viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) (Einer-Jensen et al., 2004). In this case, adaptation of the virus to an alternate „pathogenic‟ lifestyle has occurred several times within aquaculture (Einer-Jensen et al., 2004; Dale et al. 2009). (from Christiansen et al., Volume 92, page 914, 2011)
James Winton, fish health section chief of the U.S. Geological Survey‟s Western Fisheries Research Center, had a similar concern: "Not only is it a mistake to assume any strain of an influenza-like virus cannot become very much more virulent if given a chance, we really do not even have any information about the current and potential extent of the problem in either Atlantic or Pacific salmon on the West Coast."
The response of the B.C. government, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has also been sluggish and inadequate. While these detections should be confirmed (preferably by an agency unaffiliated with the CFIA and DFO), the detection of such a dangerous virus by Canada‟s leading ISAv expert, along with the peer- reviewed work of Dr. Kristi Miller, should already have triggered a rapid, widespread sampling effort among net pen and wild salmon throughout the province. Rather than moving rapidly to address the issue, they have focused on downplaying the threat and limiting Dr. Miller‟s ability to discuss her work (see the article in the Vancouver Sun, August 25, 2011: “Fisheries biologist ends testimony but still cannot speak freely with the public”). This approach only fuels suspicion that the B.C. government can no longer be trusted to monitor the salmon aquaculture industry.
“I‟m very concerned that ISAv has now been detected in a second species and in a second life history stage,” said Dr. Todd Sandell, a research biologist at Wild Fish Conservancy. “Even if the infection is by a non-pathogenic strain, the potential exists for the virus to increase its virulence. We need to begin coast-wide testing now so that we know more and can begin to understand what we are up against.” Governmental inaction continues to threaten the region‟s wild salmon stocks, where hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to protect and restore wild salmon in the last decade; it is irresponsible to continue to spend enormous amounts of money to restore wild salmon while the risk of ISAv introduction goes uninvestigated. Immediate steps need to be taken on a coast-wide level to ensure that the spread of ISAv is contained and to carefully investigate the extent of the threat.
Wild Fish Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and conservation of the Northwest region’s wild-fish ecosystems, with over 2,500 members. Wild Fish Conservancy’s staff of over 20 professional scientists, advocates, and educators works to promote technically and socially responsible habitat, hatchery, and harvest management to better sustain the region’s wild fish heritage. For more information, visit us at wildfishconservancy.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/wildfishconservancy.
PO Box 402 Duvall, WA 98019 · Tel 425-788-1167 · Fax 425-788-9634 info@wildfishconservancy.org
Contact: Todd Sandell, Wild Fish Conservancy, 206-707-2979
Dr. James Winton, U.S. Geological Survey-Western Fisheries Research Center, 206-526-6587
Dr. Fred Kibenge, Atlantic Veterinary College-University of Prince Edward Island, 902-566-0967
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 18, 2011
News that Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISAv) was detected in coastal British Columbia sockeye salmon is greatly alarming. The results were reported by the laboratory of Dr. Fred Kibenge at the Atlantic Veterinary College, which serves as the World Organization for Animal Health’s ISAv reference laboratory. The presence of this virus, never before detected in the Pacific Northwest, poses a serious threat to native salmon species that are already in decline or endangered. The discovery was referred to as a disease emergency with “global implications” by Dr. James Winton, fish health section chief of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center. The virus is not infectious to humans.
Although previous research indicated that ISAv was not as virulent for Pacific salmonids as for Atlantic salmon, the virus can readily mutate and was recently implicated in widespread mortalities among farmed coho salmon in Chile and is likely involved in the recent declines of sockeye salmon in British Columbia. The strain of ISAv detected is of European origin, suggesting that the virus was introduced to western Canada via the importation of infected Atlantic salmon eggs by the salmon aquaculture industry. Assurances that these fish did not harbor ISAv, voiced by both the source countries and the aquaculture industry, were inadequate and misleading; given the findings of the recent Cohen commission, it also appears that oversight of the aquaculture industry in B.C. has been compromised. Immediate steps need to be taken by both Canadian and U.S. officials to ensure that the spread of the virus is contained and to carefully investigate the extent of the threat. The Wild Fish Conservancy recommends the following steps be taken as soon as possible:
Points of Action:
In response to this news, the salmon aquaculture industry will herald that they brought much needed jobs to rural British Columbia. While jobs are clearly needed in such difficult economic times, it is important to recognize that the net pen aquaculture of non-native species presents a threat to the survival of wild salmon populations and the fishing-related jobs which have benefited the region for generations. These corporations seek to extract a profit from non-native salmon aquaculture while endangering a public resource and a way of life for First Nations people. It is time that this practice is stopped.
Wild Fish Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and conservation of the Northwest region’s wild-fish ecosystems, with over 2,500 members. Wild Fish Conservancy’s staff of over 20 professional scientists, advocates, and educators works to promote technically and socially responsible habitat, hatchery, and harvest management to better sustain the region’s wild fish heritage. For more information, visit us at wildfishconservancy.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/wildfishconservancy.
]]>Contact: Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy, 206-310-9301
Brian Knutsen, Smith and Lowney, LLP, 503-287-4194
For Immediate Release: Friday, September 16, 2011
“Restoration” Includes An Increase In Production Of Non-Native Steelhead
A sixty-day notice letter mailed today to federal and state agencies charges that these agencies are violating the Endangered Species by ignoring best available science and the needs of killer whales and native steelhead by funding a fish hatchery that will impede the recovery of the Elwha River ecosystem. Wild Fish Conservancy, The Conservation Angler, the Federation of Fly Fishers Steelhead Committee, and the Wild Steelhead Coalition served legal notice that they would file suit against the Olympic National Park, NOAA Fisheries Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife under the federal Endangered Species Act. The groups allege that the fish hatchery plan that the agencies are implementing for the Elwha River violates the ESA by harming Puget Sound Chinook salmon, steelhead, and bull trout without the proper authorization.
The federal government has already taken steps to remove Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam and open up miles of pristine riverine habitat in Olympic National Park, with actual demolition scheduled to begin this fall. But instead of relying on colonization of the habitat by wild salmonids, however, the federal and state agencies are going ahead with a plan that includes a new $16 million fish hatchery that will increase production of steelhead not native to the basin.
“This is the world’s largest river restoration project and the wild salmon deserve a chance to come back to the Elwha without having to compete with millions of hatchery fish,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “The habitat is excellent and the wild fish would colonize it quickly if left alone.”
Will Atlas, chair of the FFF Steelhead Committee, said “The reality is that the annual release of four million hatchery fish means that the Elwha will not reach its potential. In the rush to harvest the abundant hatchery fish we will be repeating the mistakes of the past, depressing the productivity of the habitat we fought so hard to restore.”
Rich Simms, president of the Wild Steelhead Coalition said that the Coalition “hopes that the issue can be resolved for the benefit of wild, not hatchery, steelhead."
"This is a first time opportunity, unlike other dam removals, because the habitat is pristine,” said Pete Soverel, president of The Conservation Angler. “But we are going to compromise the recovery efforts by out-of-basin, Chambers Creek steelhead stock which NOAA's own scientists say is unsuitable for Elwha recovery."
The groups believe that dam removal is a giant step forward to restore the ecosystem but relying on artificial production is counter-productive. The agencies’ plan gives no timetable for ceasing the hatchery production.
Wild Fish Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and conservation of the Northwest region’s wild-fish ecosystems, with about 2,400 members. Wild Fish Conservancy’s staff of over 20 professional scientists, advocates, and educators works to promote technically and socially responsible habitat, hatchery, and harvest management to better sustain the region’s wild fish heritage. For more information, visit us at wildfishconservancy.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/wildfishconservancy.
“Blaming sea lions is nothing but a distraction from facing up to the more politically difficult reasons why salmon are in trouble,” said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “We’re glad that NMFS has chosen to halt plans to kill sea lions at this time, but the agency now needs to look objectively at dam operations and over-harvest, hatchery practices, and the stocking of non-native fish. Addressing a single one of these pervasive problems would help salmon far more than killing sea lions at Bonneville.”
Federal law only allows the killing of sea lions when the agency proves they are having a significant negative impact on salmon. Last year the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down NMFS’s March 2008 authorization because the agency could not explain why killing sea lions, who eat at most 4.2 percent of adult salmon and steelhead runs, is appropriate in light of the agency’s previous conclusions that fishermen taking up 17 percent of the same fish will only have a “minimal impact” on the fish. Data provided with NMFS’s May 2011 authorization showed that the rate of sea lion predation at the dam had decreased, and the rate of fisheries take had increased, since NMFS’s previous authorization.
“We are relieved to have won this stay of execution for sea lions, and we will work to make sure that this misguided effort is not attempted again,” said Jonathan R. Lovvorn, senior vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation for The HSUS. “NMFS’s decision to kill hundreds of native sea lions was irrational and illegal, and should be permanently shelved.”
Wild Fish Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and conservation of the Northwest region’s wild-fish ecosystems, with about 2,400 members. Wild Fish Conservancy’s staff of over 20 professional scientists, advocates, and educators work to promote technically and socially responsible habitat, hatchery, and harvest management to better sustain the region’s wild fish heritage. For more information, visit us at wildfishconservancy.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/wildfishconservancy.
Follow The HSUS on Twitter. See our work for animals on your iPhone by searching “HumaneTV” in the App Store.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the Web at humanesociety.org.
]]>“We are relieved to have won this temporary stay of execution for sea lions, but will continue to press our case to see that federal laws, and not the sea lions, are executed,” said Jonathan R. Lovvorn, senior vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation for The HSUS. “NMFS’s decision to kill hundreds of native sea lions is irrational and illegal, and should be permanently shelved.”
Federal law only allows the killing of sea lions when the agency proves they are having a significant negative impact on salmon. Last year the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down NMFS’s previous authorization because the agency could not explain why killing sea lions, who eat at most 4.2 percent of adult salmon and steelhead runs, is appropriate in light of the agency’s previous conclusions that fishermen taking up 17 percent of the same fish will only have a “minimal impact” on the fish. The current lawsuit alleges that NMFS’s new authorization is similarly flawed.
“Blaming sea lions is nothing but a distraction from facing up to the more politically difficult reasons why salmon are in trouble,” said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “We’re glad that the agencies agreed to stop the killing this season, but NMFS needs to look objectively at dam operations and over-harvest, hatchery practices, and the stocking of non-native fish. Addressing a single one of these pervasive problems would help salmon far more than killing sea lions at Bonneville.”
Media contacts:
The Humane Society of the United States: Martin Montorfano, 301-258-3152, mmontorfano@humanesociety.org
Wild Fish Conservancy: Kurt Beardslee, 425-788-1167, kurt@wildfishconservancy.org
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization - backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty - On the Web at humanesociety.org <http://www.humanesociety.org/>.
Wild Fish Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and conservation of the Northwest region's wild-fish ecosystems, with about 2,400 members. Wild Fish Conservancy's staff of over 20 professional scientists, advocates, and educators work to promote technically and socially responsible habitat, hatchery, and harvest management to better sustain the region's wild fish heritage.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that the biological opinion prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its own Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery was “arbitrary and capricious.” The biological opinion, prepared by the Service as part of its Endangered Species Act responsibilities, evaluated the operations of the Hatchery on “bull trout,” a salmonid species listed as “threatened” under the ESA. In a December 7 ruling, two judges of a three judge panel ruled in favor of Wild Fish Conservancy, a conservation group based in the Seattle area. The organization filed a lawsuit against the Service in 2008, claiming that the five-year time frame of the biological opinion allowed the Service to improperly conclude that the Hatchery’s operations were not going to “jeopardize” the continued existence of bull trout.
A series of dams operated by the Hatchery blocks migratory bull trout from accessing their spawning grounds located in the upper reaches of Icicle Creek, a river in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. Bull trout belong to a family of salmonids that requires very cold water temperatures, and the pristine habitat of the Wilderness Area provides ideal spawning areas.
“This is a great win for the Icicle Creek ecosystem,” said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “A river in a Wilderness Area needs its migratory fish to be complete. We are glad the majority identified the lack of migratory fish passage as the key issue.”
“The Court correctly found that the Service’s arbitrary five-year period of analysis ignored the long-term devastating effects this seventy-year old Hatchery has on the Icicle Creek bull trout population” said Brian Knutsen, attorney with the firm of Smith and Lowney, LLP, who represented Wild Fish Conservancy in the case. “While the biological opinion contains good scientific information, the conclusions the Service reached were not supported by the information.”
“Wild rivers and wild fish do not receive consideration equal to that given hatcheries and hatchery fish, and if we are ever going to recover wild fish populations that needs to change,” continued Beardslee. “We hope the Service begins to lead by example and operates this and other hatcheries with a greater regard for wild fish populations and their ecosystems.”
PO Box 402 Duvall, WA 98019 • Tel 425-788-1167 • Fax 425-788-9634 • info@wildfishconservancy.org
Contact: Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy, 425-788-1167; Brian Knutsen, Smith and Lowney, LLP, 206-860-1394
For Immediate Release: August 5, 2010
Lawsuit Over Unpermitted Discharges At National Fish Hatchery Settled
On July 12, 2010, Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) and the federal government settled a lawsuit filed by Wild Fish Conservancy against the Quilcene National Fish Hatchery on the failure of that facility to have a Clean Water Act wastewater discharge permit (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES permit). The terms of the settlement include the issuance of a NPDES permit by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the facility and payment of attorney fees incurred by WFC. The Quilcene facility is operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in Jefferson County.
WFC filed the suit in 2008, alleging that a NPDES permit was required under the Clean Water Act because the facility discharged pollutants (nutrients, solids, disinfectants, etc.) into the Big Quilcene River from a “point source” (pipes and the hatchery’s fish ladder). The suit was filed after WFC received a negative response to its required “60-day notice” (before filing suit under the CWA, a letter to the responsible party alleging the violations must be filed 60 days prior, in an attempt to get corrections without litigation).
Surprisingly, the federal government’s response to the 60-day notice was that the facility did not need a permit because an EPA regulation exempted it. The “concentrated aquatic animal production facility” (CAAP) regulation provides that facilities that produce a significant number of fish that consume a significant amount of food are automatically included in the NPDES program. The federal government, however, contended that the inverse is true, that facilities smaller than the CAAP regulation thresholds do not need an NPDES permit. The problem with that approach, however, is the Clean Water Act is very clear on what facilities need NPDES permits: those that discharge “pollutants” into “navigable waters” from “point sources.” The Quilcene facility does that.
“Fish hatcheries, like any other facility or factory, must comply with all the appropriate laws,” said Kurt Beardslee, WFC’s Executive Director. “In this case, it was clear to us that this facility needed a permit. We are glad that the federal government finally agreed with us.”
In the settlement, the federal government also said it was re-examining the CAAP regulation and may issue guidance or new regulations to clarify its use. “From a reading of the regulatory history it’s clear that the CAAP regulation was never meant to exempt any facility from the NPDES program,” said attorney Brian Knutsen of Smith and Lowney, LLP, of Seattle and WFC’s attorney on the case. “Instead, it was intended to bring into the program large facilities that may otherwise not be permitted because they do not discharge from traditional ‘point sources,’ such as pipes. Facilities such as the Quilcene hatchery that discharge pollutants from pipes, on the other hand, require a NPDES permit under the plain language of the Clean Water Act, and EPA does not have authority to exempt them through a regulation.”
The federal government prevailed at the District Court level (Western District of Washington), and WFC appealed to the 9th Circuit. After WFC filed its opening brief on appeal but before the federal defendants responded, however, the case settled. Beardslee considers this a victory for wild fish now that the facility’s discharges will be regulated through the NPDES system. “Besides getting a permit, the Quilcene hatchery has made recent improvements to again allow wild fish passage. The attention that we gave the facility has paid off.”
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Contact: Ramon Vanden Brulle; 425/788-1167 x222; ramon@wildfishconservancy.org
A statement from WFC Executive Director Kurt Beardslee:
“Wild Fish Conservancy welcomes the announcement by NOAA Fisheries that Puget Sound steelhead will be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The loss and degradation of steelhead habitat and the adverse ecological and genetic impacts from steelhead hatchery programs have limited the viability of PS steelhead, and current protective measures by state and local agencies are not adequately mitigating those threats. Without federal protection, PS steelhead would be more likely to face extinction within the foreseeable future.
“However, we do not support the decision to include several hatchery-steelhead populations in the listing. We are also concerned about NOAA’s decision not to list resident rainbow trout populations with PS steelhead. Available evidence suggests that at least some populations of resident rainbows contribute to the productivity of some steelhead populations, and could be essential for the recovery of PS steelhead. Failure to adequately protect resident rainbow populations in Puget Sound could jeopardize steelhead recovery.
“While NOAA’s decision is in general appropriate and welcome, it is hardly good news. Taken with the previous listings of Puget Sound chinook salmon, Hood Canal summer chum salmon, native bull trout, and Southern Resident killer whales, it is further acknowledgement that the ecology of Puget Sound and its tributary streams is in serious peril. Like wild salmon and resident killer whales, steelhead are an ecological and cultural icon of the region, but over recent decades they have declined dramatically. Despite that dramatic decline, the responsible state agencies have consistently failed to take needed management actions to protect steelhead habitat and end the harmful hatchery practices that erode the fitness and productivity of wild steelhead.
“NOAA’s Listing Decision for PS steelhead describes in frank detail instances of past and present management characterized by faulty assumptions, misjudgment, and inappropriate action. While steelhead and chinook have different life histories and only similar habitat needs, they share the same Puget Sound rivers and streams; they and their overlapping habitats are managed by the same agencies. Puget Sound chinook were listed as a threatened species in 1999, but nearly a decade later, chinook recovery in Puget Sound is still far from certain. Now Puget Sound steelhead are listed as threatened too. Clearly, a new approach is needed. More foot dragging, empty promises, and half measures will not recover Puget Sound steelhead.
“Wild Fish Conservancy urges NOAA Fisheries to use all the discretion and authority granted it under the ESA to take the strong, decisive actions necessary to recover Puget Sound’s wild-fish ecosystems.”
]]>Tel 425/788-1167 x222 · Fax 425/788-9634 · ramon@washingtontrout.org
Contact: Ramon Vanden Brulle, Washington Trout, 425/788-1167 ramon@washingtontrout.org; Gary Loomis, Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance, 360/901-0871; Svend A. Brandt-Erichsen, Heller Ehrman LLP, 206/389-6010; svend.brandt-erichsen@hellerehrman.com; Bill Bakke, Native Fish Society, 503/977-0287, bmbakke@qwest.net
Current fishing management is illegally jeopardizing the recovery of Puget Sound chinook salmon, listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. So says a complaint filed in Federal District Court today by a coalition of regional salmon-recovery advocates.
The Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance, Washington Trout, the Native Fish Society, and the Clark-Skamania Flyfishers are suing the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the ESA-approval of the Puget Sound Comprehensive Chinook Management Plan: Harvest Management Component, a Resource Management Plan, or RMP, co-developed by Washington state and the Puget Sound tribes. The RMP was approved by NOAA Fisheries in 2004 and is intended to guide salmon harvest in Puget Sound until 2010.
The conservation groups say that the RMP does not meet the criteria NOAA Fisheries set in 2000 for approving salmon-harvest plans, and so the 2004 approval violated the ESA. Puget Sound chinook are also caught in fisheries in Canada, Alaska, and off the Washington coast. According to the complaint filed today, the total harvest of Puget Sound chinook, when the Puget Sound catch is combined with harvests from these other fisheries, is too high for the listed salmon to recover, and NOAA Fisheries failed to consider or impose changes in fishing practices, locations, seasons, gear, or methods as reasonable and prudent alternatives.
The conservation groups also maintain that new information obligates NOAA Fisheries to re-open its evaluation of the Puget Sound fisheries. Data released in August 2006 demonstrates that impacts from Canadian fisheries on Puget Sound chinook are much higher than previously believed. The ESA requires the federal agency to re-initiate its evaluation processes when new information shows that impacts on a listed animal are greater than expected.
“Harvest management’s primary goal should be to deliver enough spawners to the rivers,” said Bill Bakke of the Native Fish Society. “Fishery managers can’t recover and maintain viable wild, native populations, or comply with the ESA, without meeting that fundamental responsibility.”
In 2002 NOAA Fisheries’ own Puget Sound Technical Recovery Team (TRT) issued criteria for determining the viability of individual populations of Puget Sound chinook. However, when it approved the RMP, NOAA did not base harvest-management thresholds on the TRT criteria, and in fact the abundance targets developed for the harvest plan are often less than one-tenth of the TRT goals. If NOAA had used the TRT targets, it would have had to approve much lower fishing rates than the current plan allows.
Even using the inappropriate abundance-targets, NOAA acknowledged that currently approved harvest rates are too high to allow recovery for important populations of PS chinook, including populations in the Cedar, Nooksack, Skagit, Skykomish, and some Hood Canal Rivers. NOAA’s approval of the RMP also acknowledged that many of the current harvest rates were based on “policy considerations” rather than biological factors.
“NOAA Fisheries acknowledges that these harvest rates are too high for the salmon to recover,” said Gary Loomis, President of the Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance, “but it approved the harvest plan anyway. That’s a violation of their responsibility under the ESA.”
In 2005, NOAA endorsed the habitat component of the Puget Sound Chinook Recovery Plan, the so-called Shared Strategy Plan, developed by local, tribal, state, and federal agencies. While the Shared Strategy Plan uses the TRT criteria and targets, the harvest plan still retains the significantly lower abundance thresholds.
“Spawning goals and harvest rates should be consistent with scientifically established ESA recovery goals,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of Washington Trout. “NOAA’s own science supports the higher abundance targets in Shared Strategy; it has to reconcile the habitat-recovery plans and harvest plans it approves.”
Managers claim that salmon harvest has been reduced from historic levels by 30% to 50%, depending on the run – but the starting point was very high, typically 60% to 90% of returning populations. The current harvest plan allows “incidental” impacts up to 76% on listed chinook populations when hatchery or other unlisted salmon are targeted, and would even allow some listed populations to be directly targeted for harvest.
The conservation groups say that impacts from Canadian and non-tribal US fisheries can be reduced while still honoring treaties with Native Americans, and that they respect and acknowledge Tribal rights to fish for salmon. They note that treaty obligations and other regulations offer strong protection for Tribal fishing rights.
“We don’t see any necessary conflict between treaty fishing rights and reducing the impact of harvest,” said Beardslee. “But NOAA does have the ability and responsibility to regulate non-tribal fisheries to avoid jeopardizing chinook recovery.”
The groups are asking the court to order NOAA to withdraw its approval of the RMP and develop more appropriate salmon-harvest regulations.
]]>PO Box 402 Duvall, WA 98019 · Tel 425/788-1167 · Fax 425/788-9634 · wildfish@washingtontrout.org
Contact: Mark Hersh, Washington Trout; 425/788-1167; mark@washingtontrout.org
According to King County, prime Chinook salmon habitat, adjacent to a “natural area,” is the best place to dump 450,000 gallons a day of sewage effluent. On February 22, 2006, King County issued a permit to itself to construct a pipeline that will discharge the effluent directly into the Snoqualmie River. The planned Carnation sewage treatment plant will discharge the treated sewage and other municipal wastewater into the river at Carnation Farm Road, immediately upstream of the Chinook Bend Natural Area, a 59-acre riverside site donated to King County by the Nestle Corporation and managed by the county as a “conservation preserve.” The effluent will threaten developing chinook and other salmon from the egg stage through emigration to saltwater. Threatened Puget Sound chinook and other salmon spawn in areas immediately downstream from the proposed discharge site. Washington Trout, a non-profit salmon conservation organization, has filed an appeal of the permit.
According to King County, Chinook Bend is supposed to be managed “to conserve and enhance ecological value,” and over 20% of the natural chinook spawning in the Snoqualmie watershed takes place within the Natural Area. Puget Sound chinook were listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. In environmental reviews of the proposal, including a state Environmental Impact Statement and a federal Environmental Assessment, the county minimized salmon use of the river downstream of the discharge site. The reviews also admit that the plant will also facilitate development of Carnation, which will cause additional degradation of water quality through nonpoint source pollution.
Carnation’s currently uses on-lot septic systems to treat its sewage, and the county says that enough systems were failing as long ago as 1988 to create a health hazard. “We support the community’s efforts to improve water quality,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of Washington Trout. “But at a time when people all through the Puget Sound region are taking action to recover salmon, does King County really consider productive chinook spawning habitat the best location for getting rid of its sewage effluent?”
In October 2004 King County completed a state environmental review process of the proposed treatment plant without choosing between three discharge alternatives, an upland discharge into groundwater, a wetland discharge, or the river discharge. Both the upland and wetland alternatives would provide additional water treatment and be easier to monitor. Six weeks after an appeal period ended, King County eliminated the upland discharge alternative claiming the soils were inadequate, even though the sites themselves were never tested. They rejected the wetland option unless additional funding could be found in only four months. Funding was not secured, and the county adopted the river discharge alternative.
King County says it is still considering the wetland option if funding can be secured, but in the meantime they are going ahead with the river discharge. The treatment plant is scheduled to be on line by late 2007. “Is this the best we can expect from one of the wealthiest and progressive communities in the United States? King County could have led by example, committed a few extra dollars, and begun work on the wetland option any time in the last eighteen months.” said Beardslee.
Washington Trout is represented by Smith and Lowney, PLLC, of Seattle.
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