About the APRE process
Overview
Over the past several years, independent scientific reviews of Columbia
River hatcheries have uniformly concluded that change is needed. The
purpose of many artificial programs in the basin is currently unclear.
While many artificial production programs were built to mitigate the
impact of dams or to produce fish for harvest, their role today is less
certain. There also is great concern about whether or not artificially
produced fish adversely affect naturally spawning populations of fish.
To address these issues, Congress directed the Council to conduct a
review of artificial production in the Columbia Basin. The Council
completed the first phase of the Congressionally mandated review by
producing the Artificial Production
Review, a report that outlined recommendations to reform hatchery
practices. The next phase of the review is the Artificial Production
Review and Evaluation or APRE. It is intended that the APRE will include a
review of all artificial production facilities and programs in the
Columbia River Basin — more than 300 programs of anadromous and resident
fish programs involving about 130 facilities.
The primary objectives of the APRE are:
- determine whether or not a program meets its stated purpose;
- evaluate whether a program is consistent with legal, policy and
scientific criteria; examine the operational costs;
- outline the benefits and risks of the program; and
- gather and distribute hatchery data and information to regional
subbasin planning processes.
The APRE is being completed in cooperation with NOAA
Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Data and information
collected from the review will meet both the Council’s goals, as well as
aid in the completion of NOAA Fisheries Hatchery and Genetic Management
Plans (HGMPs). The HGMP’s will be used by the fisheries service and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assess the affects of artificial
production programs on listed anadromous species.
Information will be collected through an electronic questionnaire
designed to capture the data necessary for the Council’s review and to
complete HGMP’s. This information and data will then be the common
source for both the APRE and HGMP processes. See chart of the APRE/HGMP
relationship (10k PDF). Fish and wildlife
managers in each Columbia Basin province will be involved in the review
process through a series of workshops. Programs will be reviewed in
relation to goals and objectives for a specific area. The results of the
analysis will be assembled in a draft report for each province.
A final set of documents with the conclusions and recommendations for
all hatchery programs will incorporate comments from regional managers and
hatchery operators for each province.
The goal of the final report is to provide accurate and complete
information on artificial production programs by province and subbasin for
subbasin planning groups. With this information, subbasin planners will be
able to identify and prioritize needed changes in artificial production
programs, and include them in their subbasin plans.
Hatcheries, operating under new scientific methods and goals, can play
a crucial role in preserving and restoring salmon in the basin. Through
the APRE, we hope to better define their role so their activities make
sense scientifically, and they can meet their goals without harming
natural populations of fish.
APRE and subbasin planning
Hatchery program information and final recommendations from the APRE
process will be made available to subbasin planners. APRE provincial
evaluations and workshops have been scheduled to coordinate with subbasin
planning to the greatest extent possible. Subbasin planners will be
provided a wide variety of hatchery information including operational
information, adult return and harvest data, potential hatchery/natural
stock interactions as well as current program goals and objectives. See Subbasin
Planning.
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Last update: 9/5/03 |
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