Fishing for Salmon and Steelhead is Not a Right

Today, the Republican Senate Chair of the Washington State Senate Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing on the lawsuit and settlement on the ongoing operation of Chambers Creek Hatchery in Puget Sound.  Essentially, Wild Fish Conservancy sued Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife because they were operating the hatchery without the proper permits and vetting from the federal wildlife agencies.  Since Puget Sound Steelhead are listed under the Endangered Species Act, the federal wildlife agencies (in this case NOAA/National Mariner Fisheries Service) is required to examine and permit hatchery, or non-native fish operations.

 Here is a link that discusses the litigation.

And since nothing is easy in fish politics, particularly in Washington state, this settlement set off a firestorm.

From tribes who use hatcheries to supplement their harvest to charter boat captains to so-called angling groups, the fireball of anger toward Wild Fish Conservancy and those who support wild steelhead, was enormous.

At the hearing, there were invited panelists, almost all who were angry at the settlement.  There were the usual professions of "oh, I believe in wild steelhead, but..." and the rest of the sentence was something to the effect..."I have an economic right to catch steelhead and hatchery fish are the only fish I can catch and keep."

Now I usually side and am sympathetic with economic loss in the face of environmental regulation.  But in this case, no one has a right to make a living off of furthering endangering an iconic fish that is struggling.  No one.

In the Pacific Northwest thousands of men and women lost their jobs, their livelihoods, because of the battles over the Northern spotted owl.  They lost their ability to be outside, in the woods they loved.  And now our streams and rivers are cleaner, our salt water is better, because logging practices, implemented during those hard times, are far better for wildlife.  Those changes were a shared sacrifice.  Taxpayers footed the bills for re-training of the forestry community, for restoration of the forests, and for research into better methods of logging.

We are currently spending billions of taxpayer dollars for salmon and steelhead restoration.  It seems to me a large number of taxpayers are subsidizing a small outdoor recreation opportunity.  Or to paraphrase Winston Churchill,  never in the length of natural resource management has so few owed their livelihoods to so many gullible taxpayers.

It's time to stop the hatchery programs and let nature see if it can restore our wild salmon and steelhead.  Think of all the money taxpayers will save.