[env-trinity] Wild v. Hatchery Decision

[Byron Leydecker]

Wild v. Hatchery..Quite Relevant to Trinity River.  This is third similar
federal court decision.

 

Protections for state's steelhead trout upheld

Associated Press - 10/28/08

Samantha Young, Associated Press

 

(10-28) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- A federal judge upheld on Monday protections
for wild steelhead trout in California rivers, rejecting an argument by
forestry groups that argued the success of hatchery-raised steelhead has
made the population sufficiently robust
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/28/BAAF13PAEN.DTL&
type=newsbayarea> Man killed in Visitacion Valley identified 10.28.08  U.S.
District Court Judge Oliver Wanger in Fresno disagreed. He said
hatchery-raised fish are no substitute for wild steelhead.

 

Science shows that hatchery-fish can be beneficial, but they also can be
detrimental to wild steelhead, Wanger wrote in his 168-page ruling.

Steelhead are listed as either threatened or endangered in different parts
of California.

 

In a related claim, the judge also rejected a bid by Central Valley farmers
to remove steelhead trout from the federal Endangered Species Act. The
farmers pointed to an abundance of resident rainbow trout, steelhead that do
not migrate to the ocean.

 

The Modesto Irrigation District had argued that rainbow trout are
essentially the same species as wild steelhead. Wanger agreed with federal
wildlife scientists, who have said wild steelhead are distinct and
indispensable to the survival of the species.

 

It is the third instance in two years in which a federal court has rejected
arguments that hatchery fish ought to be counted as part of salmon or
steelhead populations, said Steve Mashuda, an attorney at Earthjustice, a
nonprofit group that represented the conservation and fishing groups.

 

The groups pressing the cases say federal wildlife managers should assess an
entire fish's population - both wild and hatchery-raised - when deciding
whether to protect it.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JCT, Chair

Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 

415 519 4810 cell

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

www.fotr.org 

 

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