BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. government will put $240 million into salmon and steelhead hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest to help fish numbers that are going down and to support Native American tribes’ fishing rights, which are protected by treaties.
It was announced by the Departments of Commerce and the Interior that 27 groups in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska will each get $54 million to fix up and maintain hatcheries.
Jennifer Quan, who is in charge of NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region, said that the hatcheries “produce the salmon that tribes need to live.” There will be food for the tribes, and their customs and religion will be supported.
Quan said that some of the facilities are about to break down because they have a backlog of upkeep that needs to be done and will cost more than $1 billion.
“For example, the roof of the Stony Creek facility owned by the Makah Tribe is just a tarp.” In order to help the recovery of the Puget Sound Chinook Salmon, the Lummi Nation Skookum Hatchery is the only one that raises spring Chinook salmon. Quan said that the hatchery is coming apart.
The Lummi Indian Business Council’s secretary, Lisa Wilson, said that fish are as important to them as the air they breathe, their health, and their way of life. Everyone who helped get “this historic funding” was thanked.
“Hatchery fish are Treaty fish and play a vital role in the survival of our natural-origin populations,” she said in a statement. “They also provide salmon for our food and ceremonies.” “No one would be fishing without the hatcheries and the Tribes.”
There are at least 16 groups of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin. It used to be the world’s biggest salmon-producing river system. Four of them are no longer alive, and seven are on the Endangered Species Act list. Salmon are very important to the environment, and Killer whales, which are an endangered species in the Northwest, depend on them for food.
They are born in rivers and move down long distances to the ocean, where they spend most of their adult lives. Then they have to make the hard journey back upstream to where they came from to spawn and die.
Wild fish runs have been badly hurt by dams in the Columbia Basin. These dams block fish from reaching habitats upstream, slow the water, and sometimes let it get too warm, which is fatal for fish.
For many years, state, federal, and tribal governments have built hatcheries to breed and hatch salmon that are then released into the wild to help fish numbers that are going down. Several studies, though, have shown that hatchery programs often hurt wild fish, in part by reducing genetic diversity and making the struggle for food stronger.
Quan said that hatcheries “come with risks,” but he also said that they can be controlled to make more fish that can be caught and even to help restore populations while keeping the risks to wild fish to a minimum.
Quan said, “Hatcheries have been around for a long time, and we’ve seen the damage they can do.”
Still, she said, the projects have changed direction in the last few years by following genetic management plans and the rules set by scientific review groups. “Now we’re in a different spot.”
If we want salmon to get better, we need to fix up their environment, make the water cleaner, change how they are caught, and do other things. But so far, people are not willing to make the changes that are needed, she said. Taking climate change into account changes the way we think about what is good and bad about hatcheries even more.
“Let’s start talking about hatcheries and how they will help us adapt in the future,” Quan said.
Greg Ruggerone, a salmon study scientist at Natural Resources Consultants Inc. in Seattle, said that the most important thing is to figure out how to better catch hatchery salmon from rivers without hurting wild salmon that are crossing the same rivers to spawn. Ruggerone said that strong nursery fish harvests would help the federal government keep its treaty promises to the tribes while also making it easier for wild fish to find food.
“One of the main goals of hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest is to provide for harvest, especially harvest for the tribes,” Ruggerone said. “There is a big chance if we can figure out how to harvest without hurting wild salmon.”
Becky Johnson, who runs the production section for the Nez Perce Tribe’s Department of Fisheries Resource Management, said that every hatchery in the Columbia River basin was built to lessen the effects of the hydropower dams that were built in the area.
As early as the 1960s or 1970s, most of them were built, she said.
“I’m excited about this chance.” People of all tribes and none gain from them, Johnson said. “More salmon coming back to the basin means more salmon for everyone.” “Having fish and food for the tribal people is very important.” People in the tribe will tell you that they are fighting hard to keep their fish, and they will never give up.
