July 17, 2014 — Short, sweet and to the point. There really is no other way to describe HR 5026, federal legislation known simply as the Fish Hatchery Protection Act.
Introduced July 8 by Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., HR 5026 came about following the termination of rainbow trout production at the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery, a facility designed and built for that very purpose in early 1959.
In December 2013, the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that the Willow Beach facility would focus solely on the rearing of bonytail chub and razorback suckers, both endangered fish. The hatchery has reared endangered fish since 1973.
That decision has angered both anglers and leaders in communities that depend on the economic contributions of the Colorado River fishery, and critics are concerned that Willow Beach might just be the tip of the iceberg. Among them is Gosar.
According to his press secretary, Steven Smith, “Terminating the annual production of 150,000 rainbow trout at the Willow Beach Hatchery will stifle Arizona’s multimillion-dollar fishing industry as well as cause considerable harm to small businesses, local governments and our citizens who depend on the financial benefits associated with sports fishing. Similar impacts will be felt throughout the nation.”
Mohave County (Ariz.) Supervisor Hildy Angius recently testified before the Appropriations Committee that recreational fishing supports nearly 1,700 jobs and contributes almost $75 million annually to the county’s economy.
In its “Strategic Hatchery and Workforce Planning Report,” released in November 2013, the FWS identified budgetary issues as justification for terminating non-native fish propagation programs such as the one at Willow Beach in favor of other priorities. Those include work with endangered and native fish species. Even if funding remained level or was increased by 5 percent, “the (National Fish Hatchery System) would phase out Service funding for non-native species propagation to maintain priority programs,” the report states. That refers to the rearing of rainbow trout.
On March 5, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs met to discuss the report. Subcommittee Chairman John Fleming, R-La., thinks the FWS is being a little shortsighted.
Read the full story at the Las Vegas Review-Journal