THOSE WHO HOOK into a hatchery winter steelhead on the Clallam, Pysht or Lyre rivers in 2010-11 might consider penning a thank you letter.
Without the help of a few volunteers from Puget Sound Anglers-North Olympic Peninsula chapter last week, they probably would have gone home skunked.
Projected cuts in the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s hatchery programs budget will likely spell the end of clipped steelhead runs in all three Western Strait of Juan de Fuca rivers (at least from Hurd Creek Hatchery).
That’s a total of approximately 50,000 fish, planted each April in those streams, gone.
The 55,000 steelhead smolts currently held by Hurd Creek, and raised with the help of various other state and tribal hatcheries, could’ve been part of that hit list.
Since funds for that particular program are expected to be cut by July — that’s when the state’s budget must finalized — fish hatchery specialist Dan Witczak was faced with the possibility of having all of those steelhead with nowhere to go.
Enter the Puget Sound Anglers, who spent a week clipping adipose fins for ever single two-inch steelhead smolt (a requirement if they are to be released in a river) by hand.
The volunteer efforts saved the state some $2,000. And with some additional cost-cutting measures, that might be enough to keep the fish at state hatcheries until April when the fish (then eight inches in size) will be dumped into the Clallam, Pysht and Lyre.
“If the program is going to be eliminated, we would have to put these fish somewhere that doesn’t have an outlet [like a lake],” Witczak said.
“[The Puget Sound Anglers] knew we were trying to save money, and trying to cut back on costs in the hope that we’ll be able to finish this brood year, so they made an offer to come and clip them for us. We took them up on it. It was a really generous offer.”
Despite the relatively mundane nature of the job — imagine cutting miniscule fins off thousands of fish for eight straight hours, all week — the volunteers on hand didn’t seem to mind too much.
They just snipped away with the sort of chattiness one might expect from a sewing circle.
“It’s volunteer work. It’s what we do,” said Walt Blendermann, a 74-year-old retired aerospace engineer who now lives in Sequim.
“The job itself is boring, but the companionship and comradeship is where it’s really fun. You’re working with a lot of different folks with a lot of different experiences.
“[There’s] a lot of hunting stories, a lot of fishing stories and stuff like that. And it’s worthwhile.”
More cuts
A number of hatcheries across the Peninsula will likely see cuts once Fish and Wildlife’s budget is finalized.
That includes a 3 percent reduction in terms of pounds for Strait of Juan de Fuca hatchery stocks and a 19 percent reduction for Quillayute System fish, according to state hatchery reform coordinator Andy Appleby.
Also, the Dungeness/Hurd Creek hatchery staff will be reduced by one full-time position.
It’s all part of a $21 million reduction in funding during the next two years that will require Fish and Wildlife to lay off 76 employees and curtail some public services.
“It’s been really bad for everybody,” said Witczak, who has been at Hurd Creek since 1993. “I’ve never seen cuts like this. I’ve also never seen the state in such trouble financially.
“But it’s hard to complain about losing a program when there’s teachers losing their jobs.”
Several hatchery programs throughout the state are slated to be cut just like the Strait steelhead at Hurd Creek.
And the fish in hand from those other programs are seeing the same dilemma, according to Appleby.
“You’re not putting non-smolted fish out [into streams],” he said. “We promised that we wouldn’t do that because they can compete with listed [native] stock.
“In the old days that would have been an option. You can’t do that anymore.”
Thankfully, we won’t have to worry about that with the Hurd Creek steelhead . . . as long as the state can find enough funding to keep those fish alive until April.
“We’re hoping that we’re going to be able to at least keep these [smolts],” Witczak said, “but I wouldn’t expect this program to be here next year.”
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors and sports columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.
