Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Hatchery Funding Maintenance Monitoring topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Panel hears competing views on repurposing hatchery research surcharge for maintenance and monitoring
Summary
The committee heard lengthy public testimony for and against House Bill 2345, which would rename the Oregon Hatchery Research Center Fund, extend an angling-license surcharge through 2036 and direct revenue to hatchery maintenance and fishery monitoring. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said the research center at Fall Creek was
The committee held a public hearing Jan. 29 on House Bill 2345, an agency-sponsored bill that would rename the Oregon Hatchery Research Center Fund to the Oregon Hatchery Monitoring and Maintenance Fund, extend the angling-license surcharge that supports it through 2036 and redirect revenue toward hatchery maintenance and monitoring.
Sean Clements, deputy director at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the committee the Hatchery Research Center facility on Fall Creek has been closed for about a year and a half after a large landslide upstream threatened the site and the facility experienced disease issues. ODFW said long-term multi-generational research projects funded by the center are either completed or near completion and that some research continues through Oregon State University and other regional research centers. The department said it is facing approximately $200 million in deferred maintenance across state hatcheries and that the surcharge brings in roughly $1.1 million per biennium; the department proposed splitting funds about 50/50 between hatchery maintenance and monitoring.
Public testimony sharply divided. Representative Carl Wilson Wright (testifying in opposition) said the fund's surcharge was dedicated to research vetted by the OHRC board and argued that shifting the surcharge to maintenance and monitoring would "confiscate" dedicated research dollars and weaken independent review. Several coastal and angling-industry groups, including the Northwest Guides and Anglers Association, Coastal Conservation Association Oregon and the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, urged support for HB 2345, saying deferred maintenance and monitoring shortfalls have reduced fishery opportunity and that research capacity exists elsewhere in the region (for example, USFWS Abernathy, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and the Hagerman facility).
Supporters noted that ODFW has moved some research to Oregon State University under cooperative agreements and that maintaining hatchery infrastructure is critical to sustaining fisheries. Representative Levy and other committee members asked for additional detail about what projects would be funded and the future of the Fall Creek facility; ODFW said the facility is mothballed and staff are preparing contingency plans that could include decommissioning and sale of the property if the bill passes.
The hearing produced no committee vote. Several members said they remain conflicted and requested additional information for the work session.
