Last week, Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), our friends at The Conservation Angler (TCA), and Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) filed a joint consent decree in federal court to settle claims in an Endangered Species Act (ESA) lawsuit challenging the operation and funding of hatcheries in the lower Columbia River operating under the Mitchell Act and Select Area Fishery Enhancement (SAFE) programs.
After decades of exposure to harmful hatchery impacts, the agreement is a positive step forward that will provide much needed relief to some of the Columbia River’s most at-risk wild salmon and steelhead populations. The agreement requires WDFW to implement essential measures that will result in more responsible, legally compliant, and transparent management practices at their hatcheries in the lower Columbia River.
Specifically, the consent decree requires the termination of the Deep River net pens coho program and the non-native Washougal steelhead program, as well as a reduction in the release of Chinook from the Kalama/Fallert program. We are also encouraged that this agreement paves the way for collaboration between Washington and Oregon to advance alternative commercial fishing methods with the goal of reducing hatchery straying and supporting the recovery of wild salmon and steelhead populations, while enabling responsible fisheries.
The agreement will also improve the public’s access to information about Washington’s hatchery programs on the lower Columbia River that has historically been opaque and difficult to obtain. Most notably, the Department will develop and maintain a ‘Compliance Review and Data Disclosure Program’ for all hatcheries operating under the Mitchell Act and SAFE program in the lower Columbia River that will be publicly available through the Department’s website.
The lawsuit, filed by Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler in April, challenges WDFW, Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), Clatsop County, and NOAA Fisheries for perpetuating the decline of threatened salmon and steelhead by failing to comply with vital safeguards and enforce key requirements under the ESA while managing lower Columbia River hatcheries. These actions also hinder the survival and recovery of endangered Southern Resident killer whales as a result of hatchery effects that decrease the abundance, size, and diversity of wild Chinook, the whale’s primary prey.
