Salmon Research Endangered Budget Cutting Threatens Recovery Research Funding

Research needed to guide Northwest salmon recovery efforts could suffer because of a budget cut being considered today in Congress.

A 10 percent decrease in this year’s National Biological Service budget is among cuts being discussed by the House Appropriations committee.

The service is the Interior Department’s research branch. Agency officials said the proposed cutback could force the closure of all or most of four major research centers in Anchorage, Seattle, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Lafayette, La.

Salmon are a big priority at the Seattle facility. The center’s research is important to the federal Snake River salmon recovery plan that will be released this month, said Gary Smith of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“It’s supposed to be sciencebased and get away from a lot of the past differences and uncertainty,” said Smith, deputy regional director.

Smith knew about the proposed cutback, but was unaware until Wednesday that the Seattle facility was targeted.

“We’re in short supply of scientific expertise,” he said. “I’m going to be watching this.”

Scientists at the Northwest Biological Science Center are studying such things as movement of young salmon through reservoirs, the gas bubble disease in fish caused by sending water over spillways, and the behavior of predators such as squawfish.

Much of the work is paid for by the Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But without the science center - which hires the scientists and produces the studies - it’s uncertain how the work would continue, said center spokesman Al Marmelstein.

The cuts could certainly end Interior Department studies of diseases, and of the relationship between wild and hatchery fish, Marmelstein said Wednesday.

“A highly virulent disease may spread through West Coast salmon and devastate what’s left … and there will be no laboratory to respond to it.”

“Good science” has been a rallying cry for both industry and environmentalists who are at war over the best way to revive wild salmon. Recovery planners are calling for more research to guide their multi-million dollar decisions.

The most expensive part of the federal recovery plan, the hydropower component, was announced Wednesday. The Clinton administration has agreed to help Bonneville Power Administration customers pay for that.

The effect of the 10 percent research cutback would depend on when it takes place, said National Biological Service spokeswoman Trudy Harlow.

“With every month that goes by, it becomes more draconian. The budget is $167.8 million for this fiscal year. We’re halfway through that. If they take 10 percent, cut that’s $16.8 million.”

If the cut isn’t made until June, the budget for the rest of the year will drop 40 percent, she said.