“Action Alert! Puget Sound Anglers needs your response by the end of the day on Monday, March 11, 2024. 

Please respond to the email below with something as simple as:
“I’m in favor of option #2, Producing hatchery salmon to increase killer whale prey: This is the preferred alternative; federal funding would continue to increase hatchery production.”

Email subject line:
“Producing hatchery salmon to increase killer whale prey”

Email your response to:
hatcheries.public.comment@noaa.gov

Puget Sound Anglers is in need of your help now to keep hatchery production increased for our Orcas and us. We came together starting in 2014 with tribes and other fishers of all types to not only stop hatchery production cuts but to start to increase it.  This has been an ongoing battle since the 1990s, and we are starting to see a positive difference in our returns with more fish in the system.

NOAA needs to hear from you by end of day Monday, March 11, 2024. There are 4 options and we guarantee you the Anti-Hatchery Fish Folks are trying to continue the path of shutting down our hatcheries. We all know that we no longer have the habitat to support these previous massive runs of naturally spawning salmon, due to:
1. the habitat now dirt.
2. predators such as seals, sea lions, and avian predators are wiping out our runs (it is known that at least 30 million salmon do not make it to the saltwater in the Puget Sound due to predation).
3. 60 year storms are coming every year or two after our Chinook spawn in the rivers and wash 99% of the eggs down the river. This is not the hatchery fish’s fault as they have a controlled environment that keeps this from happening to them.  When the Everett trestle is stuffed with trees and logs every year that are pulled out from the river banks, there is no way possible that the salmon eggs are going to remain in the gravel beds.

There are 4 options, and we need you to pick one and respond to the email below. Please pick option # 2. Please read the options and the red answers as to why we see it this way. We are digging out of a hole that really started in the 1990s. It took decades to get here, and it will not be fixed overnight. This is a long-term game.  As many of you know, last year was a banner year of fishing in Washington state. Much of this has to do with the increased hatchery production being out in the water when we had great ocean conditions. We need to continue this path. Please send this to your friends and family members now to get them to respond.

Preferred Option 2: Producing hatchery salmon to increase killer whale prey: This is the preferred alternative; federal funding would continue to increase hatchery production. YES!!!! This is our number one preferred option!!! This has shown that increased hatchery production is helping our local orcas and increased fishing for the rest of us in Washington state. We need to have more fish in the system to help carry the returning fish back to the rivers. The rivers without hatcheries have had their chinook strains go extinct. We have an out of balance ecosystem with no control of Avians, Seals, and Sea Lions that are massively eating our salmon-both adults and smolts.

Link: Hatcheries Yield More Salmon for Endangered Killer Whales; New Analysis Open for Comment

Options for Federal Funding

The draft environmental impact statement examines four main alternatives:

1. No prey increase: Discontinuing federal funding to increase killer whale prey. NO! This is the reason we are in this mess was blaming hatchery production and continually cutting it. To date this has not worked and has made fisheries even worse. number of Seals, Sea Lions, Cormorants, Mergansers, and other avian predators on salmon, that have massively increased since we started cutting hatchery production, would do even more damage to our natural origin spawner biomass greatly exposing them to a higher degree that would wipe out the remaining fish.  

2. Producing hatchery salmon to increase killer whale prey: This is the preferred alternative; federal funding would continue to increase hatchery production. YES!!!! This is our number one preferred option!!! This has shown that increased hatchery production is helping our local orcas and increased fishing for the rest of us in Washington state. We need to have more fish in the system to help carry the returning fish back to the rivers. The rivers without hatcheries have had their chinook strains go extinct. We have an out of balance ecosystem with no control of Avians, Seals, and Sea Lions that are massively eating our salmon, both adults and smolts.

3. Habitat-based prey increase: Redirecting funding from hatchery production to habitat restoration that would increase the abundance of salmon produced in the wild by improving habitat. No!!! We need to continue to keep making hatchery fish until the habitat is rebuilt and suitable for the fish. Otherwise, we will not have the fish to put on the habitat once it’s repaired. Once again, any cuts to hatchery fish with the amount of predators they have to go through would greatly reduce salmon biomass for the Orcas and us.

4. Reduced fishing: Redirecting funding from hatchery production to reduce Chinook salmon fisheries and leave more salmon prey available for the killer whales. Absolutely No! There is no need. We need all the fishers at the table to keep us interested and working together to fix the fisheries and Orcas. We do not need to push people away. By people being involved is what keeps our resources cared for, for future generations.

From the link:

Additional federal funds for Northwest salmon hatcheries have helped increase adult salmon available to endangered Southern Resident killer whales. Salmon increased as much as 3 percent in the places and times when the whales can best access them, according to a new analysis.

A draft environmental impact statement released assesses federal spending that began in 2020. NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comments on alternatives for allocating the federal funding examined in the new document.

The document includes an analysis of how much additional prey the funding has yielded for the whales to date and into the future. It also shows that leaving prey for the killer whales by cutting back on fishing could result in similar benefits as hatchery production, but at a substantial cost.

A separate alternative would seek to increase salmon numbers by improving habitat, but the results would be difficult to measure because other factors also affect salmon numbers.

Please help us!

Thank you!!!

Puget Sound Anglers State Board.”