NOAA Fisheries Service is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for two resource management plans (RMPs) that were submitted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Puget Sound Treaty Tribes (referred to as the co-managers). One resource management plan discusses hatchery programs that produce Chinook salmon. The other plan describes steelhead, coho, pink, chum, and sockeye hatchery programs. NOAA invited comments and suggestions from all interested parties in the summer of 2004 to ensure that the EIS considers the full range of related issues and alternatives to the proposed action. NOAA Fisheries Service expects to publish a DEIS in the summer of 2007.
The resource management plans are the proposed frameworks through which the co-managers would jointly manage Puget Sound region salmon and steelhead hatchery programs while meeting conservation requirements specified under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The plans describe 113 hatchery programs and evaluate their effects on Puget Sound Chinook and summer chum populations protected as threatened species under the ESA. The plans also describe the scientific foundation and general principles for continued innovation in response to new information. There are individual hatchery and genetic management plans (HGMPs) for each of the 113 hatchery programs appended to the plans. The HGMPs describe each hatchery program in more detail, including specific measures for research, monitoring, and evaluation activities that would guide future program adjustments.
NOAA Fisheries Service's ESA determination on the co-managers' resource management plans is the federal action requiring National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance. A single EIS will be prepared for the two plans, consistent with NEPA. The agency's NEPA determination for the plans will be in effect for 15 years. The EIS will consider potential impacts on listed and non-listed animal and plant species and their habitats, water quality and quantity, socioeconomics, and environmental justice. The EIS will also include information about potential impacts on other components of the human environment, including air quality, human health, transportation, and cultural resources.
NOAA Fisheries Service is rigorously exploring and objectively evaluating a full range of reasonable alternatives in the EIS, including the proposed action (implementation of the co-managers' resource management plans) and a "no action" alternative. Additional alternatives could include the following: (1) a decrease in artificial production in selected programs that have a primary goal of augmenting fisheries, and (2) an increase in artificial production in selected programs that have a primary goal of augmenting fisheries.
For more information contact Allyson Ouzts at 503-736-4736.
