The NOAA Fisheries Service next month will launch a review of some 100 federally funded salmon and steelhead hatchery programs in the Columbia River basin to assure they don't hinder efforts to recover protected species.

"There's no one-size-fits-all for hatchery programs," NOAA's Rob Walton said of the reviews, which are likely to identify the need for reforms throughout the hatchery system. Walton, an assistant NOAA regional administrator and head of its Salmon Recovery Division, briefed the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Wednesday on the looming hatchery "consultation" process.

"A site specific application of the ESA will be done in a tiered fashion," Walton said of the process of developing Endangered Species Act biological opinions for the hatchery programs. BiOps assess whether particular federal actions jeopardize the survival of ESA listed stocks. There are 13 listed Columbia River basin "evolutionarily listed units" or "designated population segments."

The 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System BiOp calls for hatchery operators to update and complete hatchery genetic management plans for each of the programs and submit them to NOAA Fisheries. The hydro BiOp says ESA consultation should be initiated by January 2009 for hatchery programs in the upper Columbia region, by July 2009 in the mid-Columbia and by February 2010 for hatchery programs in the Snake River basin.

It says ESA consultations in the upper Columbia should be completed by July 2009, by January 2010 in the Mid-Columbia and by August 2010 in the Snake River basin.

"One of our messages here is that we think there will be opportunities for coordination," Walton told the Council. The ESA consultations are typically federal-only processes. The Council helps guide funding for hatcheries run by tribes and states.

Funding for the Council program comes from the Bonneville Power Administration, one of the federal action agencies that will be involved in the consultations. BPA markets power generated in the hydro system and funds fish and wildlife projects as mitigation for the effects of the hydro system. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are other federal sources of funding for hatcheries.

The Council is amidst the process of amending its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, as required by the Northwest Power Act.

NOAA and the Council would have a shared goal, if the Council adopts hatchery related language proposed in draft amendments.

"A critical issue facing the region is whether artificial production activities can play a role in providing significant harvest opportunities throughout the basin while also protecting and rebuilding naturally spawning populations," the draft amendments say. "Artificial production must be used in a manner consistent with ecologically based scientific principles for fish recovery."

The NOAA process intends to find a "balance between competing public uses, in this case salmon" harvests and compliance with the ESA, Walton said.

The hydro BiOp says that "The FCRPS Action Agencies will continue funding hatcheries in accordance with existing programs and will adopt programmatic criteria for funding decisions."

"The overall hatchery objective for all ESUs is to fund FCRPS mitigation hatchery programs in a way that contributes to reversing the decline of downward-trending ESUs," according to the hydro BiOp.

"The science on this issue is far from settled" on hatchery fishes' role in recovery, the draft amendments say. "The Council will consider standards for maintaining both integrated and segregated hatchery programs, and standards for the proportion of wild fish returning to spawn that are necessary to maintain the genetic integrity of local populations, based on the recommendations from the Hatchery Scientific Review Group, due in December, 2008."

The NOAA Fisheries is bid by the ESA to consider "the best available scientific and commercial data available" in the hatchery BiOp process.

NOAA's Rob Jones told the Council that the "science on this is changing almost daily" regarding the effects, negative or positive, of hatchery fish on wild salmon and steelhead productivity. Jones heads the Northwest Region's Hatcheries and Inland Fisheries branch.

He said the agency reviewed the result of 18 new studies on the topic during preparation of the FCRPS BiOp. But he admitted "there are still holes" in the scientific data available.

"We will be considering the recommendations of the HSRG" as well as the work of established recovery teams and other scientific entities, the USFWS and state and tribal co-managers and others. Walton said. "The HSRG will not be the only word – an important word but not the only word."

The BiOp process will undoubtedly bring recommendations for changes to hatchery operations, and could bring demands for the closure of programs that are viewed as impeding recovery efforts.

"That's something that we would not rule out," Walton said.

Among the considerations are a new Columbia River mainstem harvest BiOp that judges that a recently struck harvest-artificial production agreement does not pose jeopardy to listed stocks. The 10-year agreement reached between state, tribal and federal entities as part of ongoing U.S. v Oregon litigation. The agreement acknowledges that hatchery BiOps are necessary.