Could Federal Hatcheries Be In Peril

[flytyer57]

From what I've read, the ladders don't really work as they are supposed to and the water above the dams is too warm for the fish. I also read in a magazine a few months ago, that at least one dams is coming down. I forget where (what river) but it's a start.

[Tim Smith]

In the Pacific Northwest, there is a big push to remove dams there also. The steelhead and salmon guys have been going on about this for years. The dams block the passage of the steelhead and salmon and are blamed as the number culprit for the demise of these species.

The dams in the Pacific Northwest are the biggest reason wild salmon are taking the beating they are, but most of them are not going anywhere. The big push to get those taken down has been more or less ineffective. Maybe the anti-dam sentiment resulted in some new dams getting delayed, but the big ones that do the most damage haven't been touched. Even the very worst non-hydroelectric systems on the Snake survived a Clinton administration push to get them taken down in 1999.

The hatchery system presides over it all, propping up the busted fishery and letting everyone pretend things are super on the Federal teat and that it's too expensive to manage for wild fish anyway. As long as they have fish from somewhere, they can pull in tourists from out of state...just like the Ozark tailwaters.

The average person in Seattle hates nukes and is pretty happy with their hydroelectric power. None of that is going to change any time soon.

The biggest threat to hydroelectric power in the PNW is the gradual loss of glacial melt. According to my brother who works at one of those power companies, they're engaged in long range planning to deal with the eventual loss of much of their current levels of discharge caused by the topic which shall not be mentioned. Just sayin'.

[Tim Smith]

From what I've read, the ladders don't really work as they are supposed to and the water above the dams is too warm for the fish. I also read in a magazine a few months ago, that at least one dams is coming down. I forget where (what river) but it's a start.

The ladders work fine and there is spawning habitat available.

Most of the mortality associated with the dams occurs in the big reservoirs while the smolts are migrating out to sea. Temperature is a problem there, yes, but predation is too. Not only does the power company have to collect the smolts at the spillways in barges and ship them (!) downstream (which is just as grossly inefficient as it sounds), the eastern exotics piled up in the reservoirs and in the tailwaters eat the smolts like popcorn on movie night. In those big expanses of slack water, the smolts can't easily find their way downstream and they get hammered by predation pretty badly until they wander around enough to get lucky and find the outlet.

...and of course, there are those who will say the dams are just fine and it's all the Native Americans and their fisheries treaties along the coast and Japanese out at sea that are killing all the salmon. Some how they'll eventually find a way to blame the Mexicans and African Americans too, I'm sure. Just give them some time.

[gotmuddy]

What about the highly toxic pollution from coal power plants,

mercury bothers me quite a bit because once it gets into fish it never leaves. LED lighting makes much more sense but the point is moot.

[Chief Grey Bear]

....before we are forced to use highly toxic fluorscent bulbs in 2012...

I don't think you have been keeping up with technology. Todays bulbs are far less harmful than the lead that rubs off onto your fingers from the tackle you use. Do you have any data stating how many people in the US have been poisoned by these types of bulbs?? Seeing how they have been in just about every factory, school, public building, store, and any structure besides a house that you can think of since back in the 40's, there should be millions of cases to choose from.

[flytyer57]

I think somebody was just trying to open a bad can of worms.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I'm sure you are right FT57.

[gotmuddy]

back to topic, has anyone heard anything?

[flytyer57]

back to topic, has anyone heard anything?

I heard a lot in the last 53½ years of my life.

Anything you want to know in particular?

[ollie]

Here is a link to an article the Daily News did with Dave the hatchery manager. For anyone who knows Dave he tells it like it is. The funding sounds like it will get cut, but not by a drastic amount in terms.

My link