Testimony of William Stelle, Jr

Regional Administrator

National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Region

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

U.S. Department of Commerce

before the

House Appropriations Committee

Subcommittee on Interior

and

Senate Appropriations Committee

Subcommittee on Interior

Seattle, Washington

April 7, 1999

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, my name is William Stelle, Jr, and I am the Regional Administrator of the Northwest region of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Thank you for inviting me to this hearing, and thank you as well for taking the time to focus on the important topic of today's hearing, the restoration of salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest.

I would like to make several basic points in my testimony this morning. First and foremost, the Federal government, like all of us, is committed to saving the salmon. It is a matter of law and of good sense. As Mayor Schell of Seattle aptly phrases it, in saving salmon we may well be saving ourselves.

Second, we are committed to good science. Science should guide decisions. Science and knowledge is a vital resource, and we must make that knowledge available to all to enable people to choose the right course. This is a crucial point to which I will return.

Third, we are committed to forge new partnerships with states, counties and the private sector here in the Pacific Northwest, promoting regional efforts to develop homegrown solutions. We are enormously pleased with the leadership and sense of responsibility that many people in government and the private sector exhibited on the salmon issue here in the Puget Sound region. We are greatly encouraged by the response of the states, counties and tribes to the prospects of listings to step up and take responsibility. How to shape the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to work with local initiatives is the best challenge we could imagine. We are committed to success.

Fourth, we are committed to inventiveness and creativity as we tackle the tough issues. In many respects, we must be prepared to open ourselves to new solutions. I am confident that they are there. We should invite and encourage creativity and inventiveness in forging solutions.

Fifth, we are committed to fulfilling treaty responsibilities to the tribes of the Pacific Northwest. This is a matter of Federal law and obligation, and we must recognize it and adhere to it. For the tribes, salmon is culture, history and tradition, not just a question of fish or cow or chicken for dinner. This is a central point, not a side point.

Further, we are committed to protecting the environment and the growing economy of the Pacific Northwest. The economy of the northwest is booming, and we are convinced that salmon recovery and economic growth are compatible and mutually reinforcing. Protecting salmon means protecting our stream systems, the bloodstream of our landscape. Twenty years from now, people will treasure healthy landscapes and vibrant salmon populations, and it will be value added to the region.

Finally, we are renewing our commitment to successful resolution of Pacific salmon treaty issues. I would also like to touch on this further into my testimony.

The COASTAL SALMON INITIATIVE

The President has proposed a major initiative to bolster and deploy existing and new Federal capabilities to assist in the conservation of at-risk Pacific salmon runs in California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. This Presidential initiative is intended to respond to the listings of these runs under the ESA by forming lasting partnerships with state, local and tribal efforts for saving Pacific salmon and their important habitats. It will promote the development of Federal-state-tribal-local coordinating capabilities to ensure close partnerships in recovery efforts and to promote efficiencies and effectiveness in the recovery effort through enhanced sharing and pooling of capabilities and information.

We are working with the four states, local officials and the tribes to detail the specifics of the proposal, and are making excellent progress in those efforts. Leaders in Washington State at every level are hard at work on this effort, and we believe Congressional approval for the new initiative is vital. We need your help in making this proposal a reality.

The President has also proposed a substantial increase in funding for the National Marine Fisheries Service of 25 million dollars to build the capacity to handle the workload associated with these new listings and our science work. That workload is growing exponentially as Federal agencies, developers and state and local authorities seek ESA approvals for their activities. NMFS has an enormously talented professional staff, and they are working overtime to respond, but we need additional capacity. It is crucial. We strongly recommend to you the recommendation of the Administration to increase that capacity, and we believe that a broad cross-sector of the community also understands the need and supports the increases.

The Science initiative

Saving salmon and doing so efficiently will require the best science possible. While the salmon effort will require work at all levels of government and the private sector, the Federal sector has unique assets and capabilities in the science arena that it can, and should, deploy. These capabilities extend from basic research programs into the causes and effects of the decline of salmon populations and the ecology upon which they depend to data gathering and management capabilities to mapping salmon populations and their habitats at multiple scales to effectiveness monitoring and evaluation. All targeted to answer the basic question on many minds: What should we do to help? What works? Where should we spend our efforts best?

Mustering the existing science capabilities in the Federal sector and making those capabilities and the learning that they generate available to the many communities involved with salmon restoration will be a vital part of the empowerment of those communities to meet the salmon challenge with inventiveness and confidence. Federal investments in aquatic sciences relating to the ecology of the west coast are substantial, stemming from the Northwest Forest Plan, the Bay-Delta effort in California and the east side land management science assessments. These investments have produced enormous improvements in the science of healthy stream systems, which are what salmon need. We should muster that knowledge and analytical capacities and make them available to our state, local and tribal partners and the economic sector. To do so will increase the ability to do the right things and in the right priority.

The Federal agencies are now inventorying their science capabilities and the ability to make those science assets available to our partners. While science issues tend to be relegated to second ticket, we believe this effort is enormously important for the long term effort, and we ask your active support for it.

Finally, I would like to address the salmon negotiations with the Canadians. We are currently engaged in constructive and promising discussions with the Canadians to put into place long term science based regimes for managing fisheries along our coasts. We need an agreement that establishes a scientific foundation for establishing what the fish need first and foremost, and which then makes the allocation decisions on a fair basis. This subject has significance for coastal stocks in Alaska, Washington and Oregon and in the Columbia Basin. We are optimistic of the discussions thus far, but their fate may well rest in your hands. We need the strong bipartisan support of the Northwest and Alaskan delegation in this effort to make this possibility a reality.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I thank you once again for taking the time to conduct this hearing. I would be happy to respond to any questions you may have.