Victory for Wild Fish on the Sandy River
Victory for Wild Fish on the Sandy River
“It is undisputed that hatchery operations can pose a host of risks to wild fish…it is clear that the Sandy River Basin is of particular importance to the recovery of the four (Endangered Species Act) listed species and is an ecologically critical area,” wrote federal Circuit Court Judge Ancer Haggerty in his ruling on Jan. 16th that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policies Act when it approved the State of Oregon’s management of the Sandy River Hatchery.
Native Fish Society, an Oregon City-based conservation group working to recover self-sustaining populations of wild fish throughout the Northwest, along with Eugene-based McKenzie Flyfishers, sued NMFS in a last ditch effort to prevent the extinction of chinook, steelhead and coho in the Sandy River. The populations had declined to less than 1000 wild steelhead and coho and only 1300 wild spring chinook. The State of Oregon had received NMFS’ blessing under the Endangered Species Act to continue to drown the river with over a million hatchery fish. The judge found fault with NMFS because it “treats the success of the (hatchery) programs as a given, an issue called into doubt by ODFW’s miserable track record of containing stray rates.”
“The science is irrefutable. The law is irrefutable. And, Judge Haggerty affirmed this. It is the most significant decision benefitting wild fish in Oregon in over a decade,” said Mike Moody, Executive Director of Native Fish Society after hearing the ruling. “Hatchery fish cause significant ecological and reproductive problems for wild fish. There is no evidence that hatcheries have been effective in the recovery of wild populations. In fact, the evidence shows they foster a slow march toward hatchery-induced extinction. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife cannot claim ignorance of this when some of the most significant studies were authored by past and current employees.”
Moody added, “The actions brought by Native Fish Society focus solely on the hatchery on the Sandy River. Its objective is the recovery of native, wild fish on the Sandy River. Native Fish Society is not trying to close down fishing of any kind, but rather to ensure recovery of wild fish.”
Bill Bakke, Director of Science and Conservation for Native Fish Society said, “As a grassroots advocacy organization, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that laws such as the Endangered Species Act are followed. We have spent the 17 years of this organization’s existence working with ODFW to restore wild fish runs to sustainable, harvestable levels in the Sandy River. Instead, our efforts were met with plummeting fish populations while ODFW and NMFS pumped out hatchery fish and papered over the problem. Someone had to step up and say we are not going to allow you to push these fish into extinction.”
The Native Fish Society and McKenzie Fly Fishers argued that NMFS should have analyzed a broad range of alternatives and prepared an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act. The groups also argued that the agency allowed too many hatchery fish to interbreed with the wild fish, and that weirs and acclimation ponds--man-made structures in the river that were supposed to prevent the interbreeding--were not likely to succeed so NMFS was wrong to approve them under the Endangered Species Act. Judge Haggerty agreed.
“Today is a great day to be a wild fish in the Sandy River,” said Bakke.
“As anglers and as citizens, we take the long-term view that the top priority of fishery managers should be to preserve and enhance our native fish populations so they remain available to future generations. The science is clear that this goal won’t be achieved using current hatchery practices. We are gratified that the court agreed that business as usual is not only unacceptable, but as we maintained, in this case violated the law,” said Arlen Thomason, Conservation Chair for the McKenzie Flyfishers.
Native Fish Society and McKenzie Flyfishers are represented in this case by Portland lawyer Dave Becker and Pete Frost of the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene.
JD: This press release from The Native Fish Society is a tough pill to swallow for the majority of sport fishermen. What’s happening is groups of self-serving elitists have manipulated studies and data to make it support their argument that hatchery fish are detrimental to wild stocks. Unfortunately they’re good at what they do and they’ve managed to convince Judge Haggerty to rule in their favor. All this is going to do is eliminate the potential for harvest in the Sandy and give the Native Fish Society and the McKenzie Flyfishers a foothold to go after other hatchery programs around the Northwest. It’s a huge win for these groups and a monumental defeat for sports anglers who like to catch and harvest hatchery salmon and steelhead. Hopefully something stops these groups from steam-rolling hatchery salmon and steelhead and gets them to focus on protecting habitat which would create a much bigger positive impact on wild fish and not take away our ability to harvest hatchery fish. Proposed Wild & Scenic Rivers Within the Wild Olympics Act of 2014 What is included in this bill?
This proposal would designate 19 rivers and 7 of their major tributaries on the Olympic Peninsula as Wild and Scenic Rivers. This designation would apply to the stretches of river on state or federal land and would not add any regulations to landowners downstream of the federal designation.
What Rivers are included?
Matheny Creek, Elwha River, Dungeness River, Graywolf River, Big Quilcene River, Dosewallips River, Duckabush River, Hamma Hamma River, South Fork Skokomish River, Middle Fork Satsop River, West Fork Satsop Rive, Wynoochee River, East Fork Humptulips River, West Fork Humptulips River
What are Wild and Scenic Rivers?
Sol Duc River, Quinault River, Queets River, Matheny Creek, Sam’s River, Hoh River, South Fork Hoh River, Bogachiel River, South Fork Calawah River, Sitkum River, Sol Duc River, North Fork Sol Duc River, South Fork Sol Duc River, Lyre River
The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed in 1968 to protect our nation’s last, best, free-flowing rivers. Wild and Scenic designation—the strongest protection a river can receive--ensures that the free-flowing character, water quality, and outstanding values of these rivers are protected for generations to come.
To be eligible for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, a river must be free-flowing 1.
Proposed Wild & Scenic rivers within the Wild Olympics Act of 2014 and contain at least one Outstandingly Remarkable Value (ORV) that is scenic, recreational, geological, fish-related, wildlife-related, historic, cultural, botanical, hydrological, paleontological, or scientific