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PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON TROUT
PO Box 402 Duvall, WA 98019 · Tel 425/788-1167 · Fax 425/788-9634 · wildfish@washingtontrout.org
Contact: Ramon Vanden Brulle, 425/788-1167 x222; ramon@washingtontrout.org
Washington Trout has won an agreement from the National Marine Fisheries Service that could ultimately help curb over-fishing, one of the three major factors in salmon declines. The environmental group and the Fisheries Service have reached a settlement over a lawsuit challenging a plan for harvesting Puget Sound chinook salmon. Puget Sound chinook have been listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1999. Under the terms of the agreement, the Fisheries Service will put off final approval of the Puget Sound Joint Resource Management Plan, or RMP, until 2004 while the agency prepares an Environmental Impact Statement and an analysis called a Biological Opinion on the salmon-harvest plan.
In November 2001, Washington Trout filed a lawsuit against the federal agency, challenging its original approval of the RMP on the grounds that they had failed to prepare any EIS or Biological Opinion on the plan. Federal law requires both environmental analyses. The RMP was developed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Puget Sound Treaty Tribes, but under the rules of the ESA, the Fisheries Service must approve all management plans that may affect listed salmon.
“In this settlement, NMFS is conceding that they dropped the ball in their original approval,” said Kurt Beardslee, Washington Trout Executive Director. “Salmon harvest under the RMP was imposing too much risk on listed chinook. This opens the door for important changes in salmon-harvest policies and practices.
This will be the first time the Fisheries Service has ever voluntarily agreed to prepare a full EIS on a salmon-harvest plan. The Fisheries Service agreed to study a specific list of alternatives to the RMP in the EIS, including no fishing at all, to compare the impacts of those alternatives against the potential impacts of the current salmon-harvest plan. This full-scale analysis of the Puget Sound fishing plan could prompt major changes to the RMP, originally approved in 2001, and could result in much more conservative fishing regulations in Puget Sound.
Seattle attorney Richard Smith, of Smith & Lowney PLLC, represented Washington Trout in the lawsuit and settlement negotiations. “This is very significant agreement,” said Smith. “NMFS has acknowledged that salmon harvest needs to be more rigorously analyzed and regulated than it has been.”
Salmon declines in Puget Sound and elsewhere are blamed on a combination of habitat loss, poor hatchery practices, and overharvest. Many scientists and environmentalists now believe that many runs, including Puget Sound chinook, may not recover without much stricter harvest regulations. Last fall, NMFS’ own Science Review Panel severely criticized the agency’s approach to harvest-management, calling it “biologically unsustainable.”
The Fisheries Service originally approved the harvest plan for a two-year trial, with final approval scheduled for early 2003. Instead, NMFS will grant another temporary re-approval for one year, first preparing a Biological Opinion and an Environmental Assessment for 2003. The final approval in 2004 will come only after completion of the full EIS and another Biological Opinion. An Environmental Assessment is generally a more cursory analysis than a full EIS, but under the terms of the settlement, the Assessment will include comparisons to other harvest-management alternatives, including no fishing. This has the potential of requiring changes to the harvest plan even before the 2004 EIS is completed. In the meantime, however, fishing will be allowed to continue, exempt from ESA enforcement. Washington Trout had originally insisted that the RMP-approval be voided, which could have halted fishing, until both the EIS and Biological Opinion were completed.
“Settlements necessarily involve compromises,” said Ramon Vanden Brulle, Washington Trout Communications Director. “But we expect that the EIS process will ultimately improve harvest management in Washington, and that the co-managers will begin allowing Puget Sound chinook to recover.”
NMFS negotiated for extra time to prepare the full EIS, arguing that they could not prepare a complete analysis by 2003. By agreeing to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement, the Fisheries Service could wind up changing the way salmon are harvested in Puget Sound, but they have removed the threat of a lawsuit that potentially could have curtailed all fishing in Puget Sound for up to two years. By compromising on the timetable, Washington Trout has won important precedents in harvest regulation.
“We recognize that this may be only one, important step toward meaningful fisheries reform, and that reforming harvest practices is only one part of salmon recovery,” said Beardslee. “Washington Trout will continue to participate in the process, on every issue that impacts salmon recovery, whether it’s harvest, habitat or hatchery practices, and we will remain prepared to challenge inadequate or inappropriate management proposals.”
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