ADVISORY/Legislative Committee Looks Into State Department of Fish and Wildlife's Hatchery Coho Salmon Program.

Business Editors and Environmental/Government Writers

ADVISORY...for Wednesday (Jan. 19)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

Legislative Committee Looks Into State Department of Fish and

Wildlife's Hatchery Coho Salmon Program

FROM:             Pacific Legal Foundation
                  Contact:  Russ Brooks or Timothy Harris
                  425/635-0970

KEY DATE:         January 19, 2000

TIME:             9:00 a.m.

LOCATION:         401-C State Capitol, Salem, Oregon, Room HR F

Significance of Hearing

In the wake of lawsuits recently filed by Pacific Legal Foundation against the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state Legislature is now taking a closer look at the agency's outlandish practices concerning its efforts to preserve so-called native or "wild" coho salmon. On January 19, the Joint Interim Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Natural Resources will hold a public hearing inquiring if ODFW is properly carrying out the Committee's wild fish policy. Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys, who filed federal and state lawsuits two months ago to stop the agency from killing hatchery-spawned Oregon coastal coho salmon, will provide testimony at that hearing. PLF attorney Russ Brooks will be available afterwards to answer questions from the media.

It is expected that the legislative inquiry will delve into apparent discrepancies between statements an ODFW official made to the Committee last February and his testimony under oath later in November when questioned by PLF attorneys who sought to stop the agency from killing the last remaining run of hatchery coho. PLF also expects the Committee to investigate the agency's questionable "scientific" basis for exterminating hatchery salmon as a means of restoring wild salmon populations. Representative Jeff Kropf, co-chairman of the Committee, is considering introducing legislation aimed at clarifying ODFW's fish policy to ensure the agency remains compliant with the Committee's vision.

Background

On October 28, PLF filed lawsuits in federal and state courts to stop ODFW from killing the last remaining hatchery coho salmon in the Alsea River basin. Both Circuit Court Judge Robert Huckleberry and U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan refused to grant PLF's request for an injunction halting the illegal destruction of the fish that PLF argued should be used to shore up the dwindling species. ODFW, consistent with National Marines Fisheries Service's salmon recovery theories, subsequently killed all returning hatchery salmon and destroyed millions of eggs claiming they were a threat to the genetic purity of so-called "wild salmon" which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Only 108 supposedly "wild salmon" returned to spawn in the Alsea River basin in 1998, and a smaller number returned in 1999, many of which were also killed by the state at the time it destroyed the hatchery fish. PLF pointed out in its lawsuits that no valid basis exists for distinguishing between hatchery coho salmon and wild coho salmon. They are the same fish.

"ODFW has manufactured a crisis," said PLF attorney Russ Brooks. "By slaughtering the hatchery coho, the agency has kept the fish population low to maintain its listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. The listing, in turn, enables state and federal regulators to place severe restrictions on private land use and recreational activities."

In the state case, PLF will continue to litigate the merits of the case, showing that Oregon laws require the state to sustain and manage wildlife, including hatchery salmon, for the maximum benefit of the people. Under the state's management scheme, sport fishing for Oregon coho will be lost for decades. Likewise, PLF will continue its challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service policies in federal court to force the agency to consider hatchery salmon in all future proposed salmon listings under the Endangered Species Act.

Pacific Legal Foundation is a nonprofit public interest organization dedicated to litigating nationwide in defense of limited government, private property rights, and individual and economic liberty. PLF's Northwest Center is located in Bellevue, Washington.