The federal agency responsible for protecting salmon in the
Pacific Northwest last week hired Jim Waldo, a regionally respected attorney,
facilitator and hatchery expert, to oversee a strategy leading to hatchery
reform, said federal agencies in a joint press release.
Waldo will lead a collaborative review of how harvest and hatcheries --
particularly federally funded hatcheries - are affecting the recovery of
salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin listed under the federal
Endangered Species Act.
This step, say the agencies in the press release, is part of a broader effort
by the NOAA Fisheries Service and others to examine ways in which salmon
harvests and hatchery management can be improved and thus contribute to salmon
recovery.
"Our goal is to do everything we can to make sure that all the region's
salmon-related activities are aiding in the recovery of our wild salmon
stocks," said Bob Lohn, head of the NOAA Fisheries Northwest region in
Seattle.
Waldo will work with agency and tribal fishery managers to identify hatchery
programs that are not contributing to salmon recovery. He will also establish
a team of science advisers to gather information on how to schedule and assign
future work, including eventual decisions on which hatchery programs must
change or end.
An initial progress report is due to the agency March 31, and the entire
process is scheduled for completion by 2008.
"I'm very happy to have Jim Waldo working on hatchery reform," Lohn
said. "I can't think of anybody who has greater experience or more
credibility on this issue than Jim."
For the past five years, Waldo has been one of the lead facilitators for the
Hatchery Reform Project in Puget Sound and coastal Washington. His work
included reviewing hatchery programs in 10 regions, conducting workshops and
communicating with hatchery managers as the reviews progressed. He also
facilitated the Hatchery Scientific Review Group that was charged with
reporting its findings to Congress and providing support to the Hatchery
Reform Coordinating Committee that provided policy review.
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