Federal Fish Hatcheries Fine For Now
Editor’s Note: Over the past year, The Outdoor Wire Digital Network has been following the continued efforts of some government administrators to close the nation’s fish hatcheries. The battle to keep the hatcheries running has been an ongoing for several years. More than once, only the actions of Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have kept the story in front of the public-and the hatcheries funded. Seems Senator Alexander has once again managed to secure funding for the hatcheries-and the assurances that those operational funds can not be used to close them.
from The Fishing Wire
Etta Pettijohn has the latest on the campaign to save the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hatcheries operating.
Alexander Once Again Secures Hatcheries Funding
Sen. Lamar Alexander, (R-TN) has secured funds to keep the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) hatcheries operating-as well as a stipulation that none of the Interior funding be used to close these hatcheries-in the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2014.
The “omnibus” spending bill defuses the threat of another government shutdown, and provides some relief from the FWS’s relentless efforts to shutter the agency’s mitigation hatcheries.
The legislation, signed by President Barak H. Obama last week, contains 12 of the annual bills that provide funding for discretionary federal programs, and funds the government until October 2014.
An administrative provision in the Corps of Engineers (COE) budget includes $4.7 million to reimburse the Fish and Wildlife Service to continue to operate the Erwin and Dale Hollow hatcheries in Tennessee; and more than $46 million to continue operations at every hatchery in the National Fish Hatchery System as requested. Also, none of the funds in the Interior bill may be used to terminate operations or to close any facility.
The FWS has attempted in recent years to close the hatcheries, claiming budget shortfalls, etc. However, Alexander in 2012 and 2013 secured funding for the operations from both the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Corps of Engineers (COE).
Despite this funding, the agency has persisted with its plans to shift the operation of these to stakeholders like state fish management agencies, and these two federal agencies.
Provisions in the appropriations recognize the reimbursable agreements the FWS has entered into with the COE, TVA, the Department of the Interior’s Central Utah Project, and the Bonneville Power Administration, in order to continue to operate mitigation hatcheries, and have provided the requested funding in the Energy and Water Development division of the CAA.