S-1732.1 _______________________________________________
SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5083
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State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1991 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators L. Smith, Snyder, Oke and Rasmussen).
Read first time March 1, 1991.
AN ACT Relating to the reestablishment of salmon hatcheries; adding new sections to chapter 75.52 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The once abundant salmon runs of the Toutle river were destroyed by the eruption of Mount St. Helens. The department of fisheries has experimented by releasing salmon into Toutle river tributaries. They have found that the river conditions have sufficiently improved since the eruption of Mount St. Helens to allow for productive salmon hatchery operation. The legislature finds that it is of prime importance to reestablish the Toutle river fish runs by reopening the Toutle river hatcheries.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 75.52 RCW to read as follows:
To the extent that federal funds are available or to the extent that state funds are appropriated for that purpose, the department shall reconstruct and operate the previously state-funded salmon hatcheries in the Toutle river watershed at their maximum production capacity level. In no case shall the department's Toutle river watershed hatcheries be reduced below the level of operation in effect on January 1, 1991.
The hatchery system on the Toutle river shall be operated in such a manner as to ensure that adult salmon are allowed to migrate upstream of the hatchery for natural spawning purposes.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department of fisheries shall request full funding from the federal government for the reconstruction and operation of the Green river salmon hatchery, located on the Green river tributary to the Toutle river. The Green river hatchery shall operate at full productive capacity. The department shall work with the Washington congressional delegation in order to achieve full funding for the Toutle river salmon hatchery program.
If full funding of the Green river hatchery is not made available to the department by the federal government, the department shall submit a report by December 1, 1991, to the senate committee on environment and natural resources and the house of representatives committee on fisheries and wildlife. The report shall describe the efforts of the department to secure federal funding for the hatchery, and shall describe the priorities used by the department to allocate salmon hatchery funding in light of the failure to obtain federal funding.