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Hatchery closure looms By
Eric Apalategui 11/17/03 Longview, WA - Naselle Fish Hatchery, which boosts Pacific County's bountiful recreational and commercial fisheries, is scheduled to shut down next year in the face of deepening state budget cuts. Until recently, the hatchery had released more than 6.5 million young salmon and steelhead into the Naselle River, which bring tens of thousands of strapping fish back to the river and Willapa Bay each fall and winter. In a project with the Naselle Youth Camp, the hatchery also reared 30,000 pan-sized trout for planting in the county's lakes. The closure would save more than $300,000. "We don't want to close any facilities," said Ron Warren, regional fish program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. "We just can't continue to operate and do all of the things we've done with less money." The state has proposed closing the Naselle hatchery in the past, but this time its chances of survival appear weak, Warren said. The only thing that could save it, as far as he could tell Friday, is extra money from the Legislature even as state agencies must hack millions from their budgets. Sen. Mark Doumit, D-Cathlamet, who also is a commercial fisherman, previously has said he is concerned about the possible loss of one of his district's big hatcheries and promised to look into the proposal. He could not be reached Friday. Closure would thin some Naselle wallets. "Oh, definitely would we feel it if they closed the hatchery," said Rosie Johnson, owner of the seven-unit Sleepy Hollow Motel in Naselle. "I get a lot of fishermen that come fishing in the Naselle." Dave Leeland, manager of Naselle Hardware, which sells a modest amount of fishing tackle alongside tools and plumbing supplies, said, "If there's less fish, it would impact us. I sure hope it doesn't close." The hatchery is just 25 years old, but the agency tabbed it for a June 30 closure over other hatcheries because it is plagued with problems as rearing ponds settle, crack and clog with sediment. Also, its faulty fish-collection system allows most returning fish to bypass the hatchery and mingle with wild fish. Despite its large production, the hatchery often must bring fish eggs from two other state hatcheries in the Willapa Bay watershed, Warren said. The hatchery's two full-time employees and its manager -- who splits time with another facility -- would be guaranteed jobs within the agency but may have to relocate. Two temporary employees wouldn't be guaranteed jobs. Besides hatchery workers and local businesses, Willapa Bay's gillnet fishermen also depend on hatchery salmon for part of their livelihoods, Warren said. None could be reached for comment Friday. State hatcheries on the Nemah and Willapa rivers will remain open. Together they release another 5.5 million chinook salmon and a smaller number of coho salmon -- but that's roughly half the number of hatchery salmon released into the bay's tributaries in previous years. Already this fall, the Naselle hatchery alone cut fish production nearly in half to save money. Besides the trout, the hatchery will raise 3 million chinook salmon, 550,000 coho salmon and 50,000 winter steelhead -- the latter a project started with the help of the Willapa Anglers. At those levels, the hatchery needs $302,000 to stay open this year, not counting major improvements the facility needs to its rearing ponds and fish-return system, Warren said. If the hatchery closes, all of its fish would be released by the time the hatchery closes June 30, including some young smolts too small to survive in large numbers, Warren said. The final class of hatchery-reared salmon and steelhead released next spring would start to return in a few years and disappear by 2010. Even if the Legislature somehow finds the money for the WDFW to keep the hatchery open, it still won't raise trout and steelhead -- only salmon, Warren said. The region's rivers also support wild runs of chinook, coho and chum salmon and steelhead and cutthroat trout, but many anglers prefer to target the marked hatchery fish because some wild fish must be released. Glenn Ray is one of those anglers. As manager of Okie's Select Market in Naselle, he depends less on angler traffic than some of his neighboring businesses, although his cashiers still ring up soft drinks, chips and other items for at least 10 or 12 Naselle-bound fishermen on autumn weekend days. But the probable closure also would disrupt Ray's own fishing habit. "In past years, I've known a few guys that have filled three (state harvest) cards salmon fishing" on the Naselle, he said. "It can be really great." |