Associated Press
OKANOGAN — The "unnecessarily arrogant and confrontational" conduct of federal fisheries officials may have hurt salmon recovery efforts in the Pacific Northwest, an audit concludes.
But National Marine Fisheries Service officials said information is outdated in the August 2000 draft audit by the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General’s office.
Brian Gorman, fisheries service spokesman in Seattle, said the agency has worked to correct the problems mentioned in the audit, which was never publicly released.
"I certainly understand the criticisms, and I think a fair amount was valid," he said. "I hope that isn’t the case anymore."
Under the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible for listing threatened or endangered salmon species and for making plans for their recovery.
The Okanogan County commissioners are suing the agency in federal court and sought the audit to help bolster their case.
The audit is based on interviews with 34 government, tribal and industry officials from August 1999 through June 2000. The draft audit was condensed into a four-page summary, which makes little mention of the alleged shortcomings.
Okanogan County commissioners released both documents Monday after receiving them from an anonymous source. The commissioners had unsuccessfully sought the documents through the Freedom of Information Act.
Commissioner Craig Vejraska called the final version a "whitewash."
Gorman said it’s not fair for Okanogan County commissioners to bring up criticisms more than a year after they were raised.
"This is clearly out of date and was never meant to be a final document," Gorman said of the draft audit.
Vejraska said the fisheries service tried to cover up the reports, claiming they didn’t exist, because they could strengthen the county’s lawsuit against federal agencies for shutting off Methow Valley irrigators.
The county has challenged the federal agency’s legal authority to interfere with state water rights in U.S. District Court in Spokane.
The draft audit found that in the Northwest region — which includes Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana — "poor communications, inadequate collaboration and failure to produce studies and plans are stymieing the (salmon and steelhead) recovery effort."
The inspector general’s audit called for the fisheries service to "change the tenor and tone" of its communications.
"A widespread consensus exists among federal and state agencies, tribal organizations, and the affected public that NMFS’s communications are inconsistent, unresponsive and unnecessarily arrogant and confrontational," the draft audit concluded
The draft audit also notes that those interviewed believe the agency draws scientific conclusions to provide a desired outcome.
The agency also was criticized for ignoring local fish recovery efforts, and for failing to complete biological opinions and recovery plans on time.
"We think the general public needs to know this information," Vejraska said. "It shows the tendency of NMFS not to want to cooperate and really solve the problem. They want to flex their muscle and show they can take water. NMFS doesn’t have an agenda to build fisheries, they have an agenda to control water."
Gorman said the fisheries service has worked to process permits more quickly, hired a consultant to do an internal review of its permitting process, and hired a tribal liaison.
That isn’t good enough for the commissioners, who on Monday asked the secretary of commerce to fully disclose the audit results.
Vejraska said the county also wants an explanation as to why the critical comments were not released.
"We officially requested this audit five months ago through the Freedom of Information Act," he said. "They told us they didn’t have it, but they did."
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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