Enforcing Washington’s Screening Requirements Through Cooperative Compliance
W
ater diverters in Washington State may know that fish screening is required by law, but they may not understand the relevant regulations and may struggle to afford compliant fish screens. The mission of the fish screening section of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is to solve these problems. Through its cooperative compliance approach, it aims to establish relationships of trust with water users, help explain screening requirements, and help users afford appropriate devices. In this interview, WDFW Biologist Danny Didricksen tells Irrigation Leader about how the screening section works to build, install, and care for screens for the benefit of both fish and water users. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Danny Didricksen: I majored in biology at Central Washington University (CWU) in Ellensburg, Washington, graduating in 2002. I did some textile work for a few years and then returned to CWU for a master’s degree in resource management. The first job I got after that was as a fisheries biologist with the WDFW in Ellensburg. We were doing genetic stock analysis and species-composition sampling with nets and boat electrofishing on some of the larger reservoir systems, Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt. I did that for 5 years before moving into my current position as fish screening section manager in WDFW’s habitat program in 2013. I was interested in the job because, as much as I love research—and I really do understand the importance of science guiding management—it’s hard to work on something really hard for a few years, write a big report, and then see it sit on a shelf. In this position, by contrast, I implement fish screens in the field, get to work with people, and see immediate results in fish protection. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the WDFW.
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The habitat program, where I work, has a big emphasis on the culvert case injunction, which targets tributary systems in need of culvert replacements in the Puget Sound area. I am part of the fish passage and screening division, so my counterparts in Olympia are working on the Brian Abbott Fish Barrier Removal Board that was founded as a result of the culvert case injunction. It’s a multistakeholder board designed to get as many culverts corrected as possible. There is an end date required by the injunction that may or may not be realistic for the Washington State Department of Transportation, which owns most of the culverts, but we’re trying to get salmon through so that we can honor tribal rights to fish returns and improve the stock status of salmon as a whole. Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about your program’s fish screening section? Danny Didricksen: Fish screening in Washington has been going on since before we achieved statehood in 1889; the first hatcheries came into existence when this region was still part of the Oregon territory. In 1905, the first versions of fish breeding rules came on the books. They were designed to protect the state’s investments, because when hatcheries
PHOTO IS COURTESY OF WDFW.
Danny Didricksen: The WDFW is the state agency tasked with preserving, protecting, and perpetuating fish, wildlife, and ecosystems, while providing sustainable fishing, hunting, and other recreation opportunities. The WDFW’s headquarters are in Olympia, Washington, and about 1,800 staff work across six regions divided by natural geographic lines. The department has seven programs—habitat, fish, wildlife, enforcement, capital asset management, technology and finance, and the director’s office—with a program lead in each region. My work covers all six regions.
Screen shop employees install a fish screen near Ellensburg, Washington.
