VOLUNTEERâS ACTIVITIES CORNER
By Allen Smith, Board Chairman & Volunteer Coordinator

This past spring and summer our great volunteers gave outstanding performances in supporting our Chinook Enhancement Program and our Annual Salmon Derby. This year we doubled our chinook salmon rearing capacity by installing new sea pens in Monterey Harbor and for the first time in Santa Cruz Harbor. Our Chinook Enhancement Program this year yielded a release of approximately 191,500 chinook smolts into the Monterey Bay. This output was 73 % greater than last yearâs chinook smolt release. To date we have released approximately 964,000 chinook salmon smolts for the 10 year life of the Program. As result of our operating experience this year, we have determined that some modifications to our sea pens are desirable, and this activity will take place this fall.

The Monterey Bay water conditions were not good this past June and July for our Annual Salmon Derby. Our volunteers did a terrific job in helping us to make a last minute change in this yearsâ MBSTP Derby scope to include chinook salmon, albacore tuna, and halibut. This change allowed us to avoid an economic disaster in this important fund -raiser for our Project.

Our volunteer fish culture activities for the rest of this year are expected to be:

• Continued rearing of approximately 45,000 juvenile steelhead

• Modifications to our chinook rearing sea pens in November

• Fin clipping of our steelhead inventory is scheduled for Saturday, December 1, 2001 starting at about 9:00am at our Kingfisher Flat rearing facility. For those persons interested in helping us with this activity, I need to know in advance approximately how many persons plan to participate. Please contact me at one of the numbers given below for more details.

• Adult steelhead and coho salmon broodstock trapping starting in late December 2001 for our year 2002 spawning activity.

I need to continue to point out in each newsletter that MBS&TP is an all-volunteer organization (with the exception of our facilities manager/biologist, Dave Streig). Historically volunteer based organizations go through periods of turnover and drop out for any number of reasons. In the past we have been able to survive these cycles thanks to our dependable core volunteers and to some new volunteers. Unfortunately, without a continuing number of ãnew bloodä volunteers each year, we will eventually be unable to continue our Project activities. This year we have acquired a small number of really great new volunteers! To those of you interested in continuing to support us with your volunteer efforts, letâs see if we can inspire some new dedicated persons to join us in our volunteer mission to enhance the salmonid populations of the Central Coast region. I usually train new volunteers for fish care activities at our Kingfisher Flat rearing facility in March and April of each year.

I want to extend our deepest thanks and sincerest appreciation to our magnificent volunteers for their continued support of our Project mission. Also I want to extend our continuing gratitude to the following organizations, groups, businesses, and individuals for their financial support of the ongoing restoration and operation of our fish rearing facilities: David & Lucile Packard Foundation; Fish & Game Advisory Commissions of Monterey, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties; Commercial Salmon Stamp Committee; Scott Creek Watershed Council; and the many individuals, businesses, schools, and community organizations who continue to provide their outstanding support.

Anyone interested in being trained to work with us in occasional fish care activities and some of our other Project activities, please contact me, Al Smith, at 831-722-4753, 831-458-3095, E-mail MBSTP@AOL.com, or send a note to my attention at MBS&TP, P.O. Box 417, Davenport, CA 95017.

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Then and Now - Changes in the Project   
By Morrow Whitcomb, Past Chairman of the Board

Al Smith and Larry Wolf asked me to write an article describing changes in the Project over the years.  Much has changed in the Project since I joined in 1985.

The Projectâs original purpose was the restoration of traditional numbers of salmonids to the streams of the greater Monterey Bay area; the mitigation of environmental impacts such as droughts; and the supplementation of natural production to produce a surplus of returning adults for recreational fishing.

In the mid- â80s and early â90s the Projectâs hatchery production peaked at over 175,000 steelhead and 35,000 Coho salmon smolts per year.  Smolts were planted in just about every stream from Waddell Creek in the north to the Carmel River in the south.  The Project had just started its salt water net pen Chinook program (which this year released 192,000 fingerlings) and the Salmon and Trout Education Program (STEP) was well underway as well.  Several important scientific studies were performed with the DF & G.  The Project operated the hatchery and rearing facility at Big Creek, and five additional rearing facilities.  The Project had the capability of producing over 300,000 steelhead and Cohos, and volunteers provided 15,000 man-hours per year to the Project.

From the earliest days, the Project used hatchery practices developed to avoid mistakes made at state and federal facilities.  Wild broodstock and other techniques were used to maintain wild genetics, and to avoid developing domestic strains of fish.

The Projectâs impact on returns of anadromous fish was profound.  45 to 65 percent of adults returning to spawn on the SLR were of hatchery origin (from wild parents).  Hatchery plants even restarted extirpated runs on some streams, and returning hatchery fish contributed heavily to the in-stream production of juveniles.

Today, the Projectâs inventory is 37,000 SLR-origin and 7,000 Scott Creek-origin steelhead, and it operates the Big Creek hatchery, and two other rearing facilities with occupancy well below capacity.  So what caused this dramatic decrease in production?

The major cause of this reduction is the extensive changes in the regulatory environment.  When the Cohos were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species act, and steelhead listed as threatened, everything unraveled.  Regulators placed extreme limits on our production, stopped our planting smolts into streams from which their parents didnât come, and increased restrictions on the recreational fishery.

The regulatorsâ concern is that the fish are protected and shouldnât be disturbed by anybody (hatcheries or recreational fishers).  Hatchery supplementation is largely forbidden because they feel hatchery fish are inferior.  And they fear planting fish originating from one stream into another will damage the genetic structure of the other stream to that runâs disadvantage.  They ignore scientific studies which show extensive straying between Scott and Waddell Creeks.  They ignore the obvious free intermingling of San Lorenzo River, Soquel and Aptos fish stocks, and the fact that some genetic material transfer between nearby streams is beneficial, widening the gene pool and helping prevent inbreeding and resultant narrow gene pools.  And they ignore that our hatchery fish come directly from wild parents.  The regulators have an idealistic, totally wild-fish approach, wanting only naturally produced and reared fish in the system. 

The fact that steelhead and salmon returns from the Great Lakes average 10% to 15%, all hatchery fish, and our ocean returns of hatchery and stream bred fish are lucky to exceed 1/2%, conclusively shows that the ocean is the problem, not the hatchery or recreational fishing.  The recreational fishery, and the hatchery are easy targets to hit, however.  A more astute, but infinitely more difficult decision would be to reduce the number of predators, themselves neither threatened nor endangered, but fully protected to prey on the endangered fish.

The regulators approach has significantly reduced the numbers of fish that the Project rears, lowered the numbers of adult fish returning to spawn, and damaged the Projectâs volunteer base.  Volunteers used to come from a variety of sources, but the largest by far was the pool of recreational fishers.  Skilled fishers who grew up on our local streams, schooled in years of direct observation, with a strong and abiding interest in fish and fish culture.  Now with fishing opportunities disappearing, so has our volunteer base of recreational fishers.  With several of our key Board members burned out (from the regulatory and bureaucratic wars) added to the death of several of our dear friends and key Project leaders, and the loss of several others who have moved away (to places with better fishing, where else?!), the result is we have a huge volunteer problem.  The group of volunteers willing to take care of the fish at the hatchery on a Saturday or Sunday is so severely depleted that the Board has even discussed using some of its precious budget to hire weekend workers.

Curiously this regulatory and volunteer situation comes at a time when the Project finances are in the best shape Iâve ever seen.  During the early â90s, State funding programs encouraging cooperative rearing ended, and the Projectâs state funding disappeared.  The Project was in such dire straits that a key volunteer put up personal investments as collateral for a bank loan to tide the Project over.  Now the addition of key members such as Larry Wolf, skilled in fund-raising, combined with the outstanding support of long time major funding organizations has put the Project in decent financial condition

So where are we going from here?  Iâm afraid that the Project will never be allowed to supplement the steelhead fishery enough to support catch and kill, nor to increase the total number of spawners significantly over natural production.  The best we can hope for is to be allowed a catch and release fishery with enough hatchery supplementation to make up for the associated incidental mortality, and to mitigate droughts, etc.  Populations of naturally reproducing fish will continue to decline, because of the lack of wild-origin hatchery fish returning to spawn, and because ocean problems and predators will never be addressed.  And so we will continue to have reduced opportunities to catch a steelhead in local waters.  What we have worked so long to prevent is coming to pass, and largely due to misapplication of regulations intended to help the fish.

On that note, however, I am cautiously optimistic for the survival of the fish and the future of the Project.  The scientists will finally come to the conclusion that the fish populations of adjacent streams share common gene pools, and some inter-basin transfer of fish will be allowed.  The genetic makeup of our hatchery fish is being recognized as identical to the wild fish.  And thus we will continue to play an important role in the survival of the local anadromous fish populations. 

A final plea.  Please become an active and committed volunteer.  The Project has space and work for practically every talent.  From construction to weekend fish rearing, from working on the Board of Directors to assisting with the STEP program, the need is for volunteers is critical.  Without additional volunteers the Project will cease to exist in relatively short order.

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24th Annual Albacore Dinner
By Larry Wolf & Mary Jane Rogers

The Castroville Rotary Club will be cooking their marvelous albacore dinner on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001. The dinner will be held at the Castroville Community Center,  11261 Crane St., Castroville, CA. No-host cocktails will be served at 6:00 PM., with dinner starting at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $14.00 and available at the door. We will have a project demonstration, a raffle of many prizes and a silent auction that includes a trip to Mexico for two days of marlin fishing at Hotel Buena Vista. Also included in the silent auction will be a new snowboard from NHS Inc. and Terry Campion. We are very excited about these prizes. I visited Hotel Buena Vista this year for fishing and a great vacation. The staff and boats are great and the food is abundant. Thanks again to all the donors of prizes. We could not be where we are without your support. We still need a few more raffle prizes and fish cleaners. If you can help us, please call Mary Jane Rogers at 831-763-0926.

We are very grateful to The Castroville Rotary Club and all the fine people who help us put this fund raising event together. They have been wonderful supporting the Monterey bay Salmon & Trout Project for the past 24 years and what a super job they do. Again, thanks a lot, Rotarians.

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Results of the 2001 Big Fish Derby
By Larry Wolf ö Derby Director

Well I could not have been more off the mark than I was this year.  The salmon fishing started out with a bang but ended shortly after I wrote my article for the 2001 Salmon Derby.  The weather and currents changed this year in the middle of May.  All of the salmon that normally migrate down here for the spring and summer left and we had only a hand full of fish being caught during June.  In an effort to avoid the cancellation of the derby, we changed the rules to allow halibut as well as albacore tuna, to be entered into the derby.  Although the rule changes helped, the derby did not produce the revenue that we normally receive.  We did break even and gave away some very nice prizes. 

The winner was Mark Domanic, from Monterey.  His winning fish weighed in at

34lbs.12oz and he won the $1.000.00 Grand Prize.  Second was Art Terkildsen, 28lb.13oz.,  won $500.00.  The third place winner was Mike Venezio with a 26lbs.02 ozs.  He won $250.00.  The grand total 3 day weight winner with the total weight of 42lbs. 04ozs, went to Kenny Nakagawa.  Kenny turned in a fish each day.   He won then four day trip to Hotel Buena Vista in Baja California, for Marlin fishing for two.  Kenny is a big supporter of our program and donated the trip back to the hatchery to be auctioned off at our November 10^th abacore dinner.  Thanks again to Kenny for his contribution to the derby and his donation to our next fall fund raiser.   

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Hatchery Managers Report
By Dave Streig:

       We have made it through the summer low water flows.  The water dropped to only .1 cubic foot per second greater then the lowest flow of the 1989 drought year.  Hopefully this winter will produce decent rains to provide adequate attractive flows for adult Coho and Steelhead.  We are still awaiting National Marine Fisheries Service, Regulation Branch & Protected Species Management Units preparation of their Biological Opinion of the Project and the issuance of a Section 10 Permit.  We have been waiting since our  August 1996 application was submitted.  This years Steelhead Production is about 37,100 San Lorenzo River Steelhead.  These fish will be returned to the San Lorenzo River watershed.  We also raised an additional 7,200 Scotts Creek Steelhead, which will be returned to the Scotts Creek watershed.  

     This coming March 2002 will be the 20^th Anniversary of the Projects Restoration of the old California Depart O fish and Game Big Creek hatchery.  I look forward to seeing all of you at the November 10^th Albacore Dinner.  

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Oregon court puts end to the Îwildâ vs. ÎHatcheryâ debate
From: Western Outdoor News, September 15, 2001

Grants Pass, Or   -  What we here at Western Outdoor News have been saying for over a year has been backed up by a federal court decision in Grantâs Pass, Oregon this past week:  The National Marine Service had no basis in fact or science to declare a difference between ãwildä and ãhatcheryä salmon.

The federal court ruling has thrown out the NMFS threatened species listing for the Oregon coastal coho salmon, and sent it back to NMFS with a condemnation that the agency was ãarbitrary and capriciousä when it tried to distinguish between salmon spawning in the wild and fish spawned in hatcheries, since they could breed together easily as past of the same group.

While the decision is only applicable to Oregon coastal coho salmon, the same lack of science and fact has been a subject of derision here in California for almost all the listings and claims by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which contends hatchery fish, or even hatchery fish that actually spawn ãin the gravel,ä are a threat to ãwildä fish, even though there are no distinguishable differences in the fish.  In other words, this could, and should, impact all such decisions made by NMFS. 

In addition, recent agreements between the California Department of Fish & Game hatchery system and NMFS to cut back in the raising of some hatchery fish should now go back to the drawing board, and all cutbacks in numbers of salmon or steelhead raised in hatcheries should be reconsidered. Generally, fish hatcheries in California were built as mitigation for the damming up of wild rivers and the loss of natural spawning habitat.  The hatcheries were intended to make up for the numbers of lost salmon and steelhead, and are operated to provide mitigation agreed to by the federal government during construction of the dams.  Any change in fulfilling those mitigation obligations would be considered a breach of law by the federal government, and open them up to even more lawsuits. The ruling definitely calls into question all of the Endangered Species Act listings of trout, salmon and steelhead everywhere in the West. 

The lawsuits against NMFS were brought about by the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Alsea Valley Alliance following release of a video taken by an Oregon resident showing state fish and wildlife workers clubbing hatchery fish to death on the Alsea River, supposedly to ease competition between spawning ãwildä fish and ãhatcheryä fish.  There was, in fact, no way to tell if they were clubbing one fish or the other.

Editors note: MBS&TP has been raising these very issues for a number of years now.

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