Tulalip News

“Being Frank” By Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

OLYMPIA – Allocation is being confused with conservation as the states of Oregon and Washington move to restrict non-Indian commercial gillnet fisheries on the lower Columbia River.

The states’ plan to move gillnetters off the main stem and prioritize sport fishing by reallocating  their wild chinook salmon harvest impacts to anglers. Of course the states can allocate their share of the salmon resource however they like, but true conservation doesn’t happen just by reallocating salmon harvest between commercial and sport fisheries.

The decline of salmon across our region has nothing to do with how we catch them, whether with a net or rod and reel. Salmon are in trouble because of lost and damaged habitat. The key to recovery is to restore and protect that habitat, combined with conservative harvest and careful use of hatcheries.

All types of fishing – including mark-selective sport fisheries targeting fin-clipped hatchery salmon – kill non-targeted  fish . Harvest is managed on the basis of fishery impacts from all fishing methods, both sport and commercial. Reallocating these impacts from commercial to sport fisheries does nothing to rebuild the resource.

Allocation is not conservation. Conservation must come first. We need to focus on restoring salmon populations to abundance – mostly by restoring and protecting their habitat – instead of fighting battles over who gets to catch how many fish. Imagine if all of that time, energy and money was spent on true salmon conservation instead.

Whether sport or commercial, most fishermen are conservationists at heart. Neither group is more conservation-minded than the other, and neither wants to catch the last salmon.

The debate between sport and commercial fisheries allocation on the lower Columbia now appears to be headed to the courts, and that’s too bad, because this fight distracts us from the real work at hand – restoring salmon populations to abundant levels. In the end, these allocation battles are self-defeating because they undermine the broad-based cooperation that we need to recover salmon.

After decades of hard work, cooperative salmon restoration efforts in the Columbia basin have started to make a difference. Spring and fall chinook, sockeye and coho populations are growing. That kind of success doesn’t happen on its own. It comes from a shared willingness of many people to work together with common interest toward a shared goal of conserving, protecting and restoring salmon populations on the Columbia and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Note: A more comprehensive history of the Coastal Conservation Association is available at: http://go.nwifc.org/history  

By Jerry Cornfield, Herald Writer, http://www.heraldnet.com

OLYMPIA — Two hurdles to building a new ferry terminal in Mukilteo should be cleared this spring, but state leaders must deal with a looming lack of money to build it.

After years of efforts, there is a $38 million hole in the budget for a new terminal at the former Air Force tank farm, east of the existing terminal. And there are signs it could grow larger.

Ground won’t be broken until 2015, at the earliest, giving ferry officials time to pull together funds from state and federal sources to cover the $140 million tab.

“I’m confident. This has been too long in coming,” said Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine. “Everybody knows this project has to be done.”

Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, serves on the House Transportation Committee, which is drafting a new transportation budget. The state has made its commitment clear by paying several million dollars for environmental work thus far, he said.

“My goal is to make sure we keep the project on track, because it’s a critical improvement that needs to be done,” said Liias, a former Mukilteo councilman. “We need all the money identified before we start.”

The Mukilteo ferry terminal is among the busiest in the state’s marine highway system. It has not had significant improvements for almost 30 years and frequent users know well the congestion and conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians with the current layout.

Last May, the state chose as its preferred site at the old fuel depot. Of three alternatives, it is the closest to the transit center and Sound Transit commuter rail station. The other options were to renovate the ferry dock at its current location or build at the far east end of the tank farm.

As proposed, the state will erect four new toll booths and a new building and entryway for walk-on passengers.

The final environmental impact statement on the project is expected to be released in April. Then the Air Force can transfer its land to the Port of Everett, which will then give a slice to the state for the ferry terminal.

Agreements need to be reached with tribes regarding protection of cultural resources and treaty rights for fishing. The goal is to wrap those up this year, ferry officials said.

The terminal project’s estimated $140 million price tag includes a reserve.

Lawmakers and former Gov. Chris Gregoire only socked away $102 million in the current state transportation budget for preliminary engineering and construction through 2019.

The $38 million hole could grow to $58 million because Washington State Ferries wants to use some of those construction dollars now, knowing that the big checks for the Mukilteo terminal won’t need to be written for a couple of years.

David Moseley, assistant secretary of transportation in charge of ferries, said he’s optimistic that federal money can be secured and, maybe, extra state dollars too if a new transportation funding package wins voter approval in the next couple of years.

“I don’t think we’ll have it solved in 2013,” he said