Proposals to end commercial salmon and sturgeon fishing in Willapa Bay and to close the Nemah Hatchery that provides the bay with more than one-third of its fish may not swim after all.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife suggested these cuts in September in response to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s order that state agencies submit proposals for reducing their 2012-13 budgets by 10 percent.
However, Gregoire didn’t endorse WDFW’s ideas in a proposed state budget she released this week. The Legislature kicked off a special session Monday as it tries to pinpoint cuts to fill a $1.7-billion budget gap.
Gregoire’s budget sidesteps some of the drastic cuts WDFW suggested for Southwest Washington by moving programs to different funds.
“One-time Band-Aid fixes have kept this from the kinds of Draconian things like closing hatcheries for the time being,” said Guy Norman, regional director for Southwest Washington.
Cuts the WDFW proposed would have eliminated all commercial salmon and sturgeon fishing in Willapa Bay and closed the Nemah Hatchery, which is on a river that flows into the bay.
Closing the hatchery would have eliminated 43 percent of the fall chinook and 38 percent of the chum stocked into the bay, officials estimated.
However, the governor’s budget is not without cuts to current WDFW spending. Under the governor’s budget:
Six manager positions would be eliminated at Olympia headquarters and regional offices.
A $50 fee would be charged for Department of Fish and Wildlife hydraulic permits, which are required for work near streams. In the past, there was no charge for the permits.
The department would no longer reimburse landowners for damage from deer, elk and other wildlife. Norman said the program is widely used in Lewis County, near Packwood and Toledo.
