CATHLAMET — A public meeting to discuss two options for establishing a wild steelhead sanctuary in streams near the mouth of the Columbia River will begin at 6 p.m. Jan. 21 at River Street Meeting Room, 25 River St.
Both options under consideration by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are designed to help preserve wild steelhead populations by prohibiting releases of hatchery-raised steelhead.
One option would eliminate hatchery winter steelhead in the Grays and Chinook rivers. The others would prohibit hatchery steelhead in Mill, Abernathy and Germany creeks.
An advisory group was divided on the options, said Cindy Le Fleur, regional fish program manager.
The department will also accept public comments electronically starting Jan. 25, when additional information on the two options will be posted at http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/fisheries/steelhead/gene_bank/columbia_river/.
Both options meet standards outlined in the Statewide Steelhead Management Plan, which calls on the department to establish a network of wild gene banks across the state where wild steelhead are largely protected from the effects of hatchery programs.
The steelhead plan was adopted by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2008, based on research showing hatchery-produced steelhead can interfere with wild steelhead in a variety of ways ranging from competition for food to interbreeding.
The department’s first official wild steelhead gene bank was designated in 2012 in the Sol Duc River on the Olympic Peninsula. In 2014, the department designated gene banks in the East Fork of the Lewis River, North Fork Toutle and Green rivers and the Wind River.
