PORT ANGELES — A meeting about a proposal to list steelhead trout in Puget Sound as a threatened species is planned next week.
The meeting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, at the Port Angeles Public Library, 2210 S. Peabody St., is the only one on the North Olympic Peninsula in a series of five meetings planned this month on the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s new steelhead management plan.
The first phase of the plan, scheduled for completion in January, will focus on steelhead populations in the Puget Sound area.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries has proposed steelhead in Puget Sound be listed “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act.
$60 million industry
Steelhead — a seagoing rainbow trout that is a fiery gamefish for anglers fishing Northwest rivers — are a $60 million-plus industry for communities along the North Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound area, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“Some of the issues we face in developing new management strategies for steelhead have already been identified,” said Amilee Wilson, Fish and Wildlife project manager, in a statement.
“At the same time, we want to hear what people have to say about those strategies and solicit any new ideas we may have missed.”
