news

Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler helped secure strong funding to protect and expand Pacific salmon habitat and boost hatchery production of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River system in the year-end spending package the U.S. House passed this week.

As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Herrera Beutler helped ensure that the package included $35.5 million to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty and $22 million to support Mitchell Act hatchery activities – the largest federal funding in five years for this program.

“Now that my sea lion bill has been signed into law, I am working with members from both political parties to take the next critical step: protect salmon habitat and increase hatchery production,” Herrera Beutler said. “I’m pleased we advanced this funding to bolster salmon in our rivers. Working together, we can protect the precious salmon resources we cherish so much.”

The U.S. Senate is expected to pass this spending package today and send it promptly to the president to be signed into law prior to December 20.

• The $35,500,000 in funding will address the recommendations outlined in the Pacific Salmon Commission’s plan to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Signed by Canada and the United States in 1985, the Treaty provides a framework for the two countries to cooperatively manage Pacific salmon stocks focused on protecting and expanding spawning habitat, increasing hatchery production, and implementing conservation measures to prevent overfishing and maximize production.
  
  
• The $22,000,000 in funding for Mitchell Act hatchery activities will enable federal agencies to work with Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to establish and operate a series of hatcheries and fish passage facilities to improve declining salmon runs in the Columbia River System, in order to ensure conversation of these critical natural resources, maintain economically viable tribal, commercial, and sports fisheries, and provide prey for Southern Resident killer whales.