Thank you all. And thanks to our hosts, the Seattle Mountaineers, who share our commitment to Washington's natural resources.

We're all here because we recognize that hatcheries play an essential role in Washington's economy and culture:

• Sportfishing contributes more than $850 million a year to the state's economy. There is over $980 million spent every year in this state on wildlife viewing, and part of that comes from the thousands of people who line the highways and byways of the state to view salmon returning to hatcheries. There is the educational component of literally thousands of kids viewing our facilities every year as part of their educational experience. And there are the salmon festivals across the state that result in major dollars flowing into our communities. The Issaquah Hatchery integrates all these components into its community.

• Commercial catches generate another $140 million annually.

• Fisheries are essential to tribal culture and livelihood, and guaranteed to treaty tribes by federal law.

• Hatcheries are the present and future cornerstone of meaningful future fishing opportunity in Washington.

Hatcheries also are key to stock survival and genetic diversity-stocks such as Elwha, White and Dungeness River that would no longer be with us without conservation hatcheries.

While it's clear hatcheries will continue to play a pivotal role in our dual efforts to recover salmon and ensure future fishing opportunity, the way hatcheries do business is changing. It's not an overstatement to say that Washington's hatchery system is in the midst of a revolution. The only thing constant in today's climate is change and we need to pioneer those changes!

Last year, an independent panel of scientists, the Hatchery Reform Scientific Group, laid out more than 1,000 needed changes in the way Washington's state and tribal hatcheries are operated. This was the first-ever, system-wide review of our hatchery program. Every recommendation was made in pursuit of a common goal-to operate each hatchery in a manner that upholds wild-salmon recovery goals in its watershed.

In the 18 months since the HRSG's recommendations were announced, we have carried out more than one-third of the recommended short-term and one-time improvements. These are not idle recommendations as the Legislature has funded HSRG recommendations in the state's capital and operating budgets.

Evidence of these changes can be found in dozens of our hatcheries, and Larry Peck will share some of those in detail later today.

Besides changing hatchery operations themselves, we must be accountable to the public in carrying out hatchery reform. One of the most important transparency tools is Managing for Success, a database that will enable us to track our progress by noting each hatchery activity, and show its relationship to salmon and watershed recovery.

Today there is a clear hand-off of the scientific work of the HSRG to the co-managers to complete the implementation of their recommendations. Their job is done, and now it's time to do ours!

Clearly, there's a lot left to do. Re-tooling Washington's hatcheries is a big job with a big price tag.

That's no surprise when you consider that our hatchery system was launched over 100 years old, and many of our facilities are over 50 years old.

It would cost $150 million to complete the recommended package of hatchery reforms. So far the state and tribes have received $16 million in state funding and $10 million in federal dollars to launch the reform effort.

That's allowed us to make a solid start, but it falls far short of what we need to complete the job.

We can't stop now.

Washington's hatchery system represents a $1 billion investment over the decades since the state's first hatchery was built in 1895 on the Kalama River. We must protect this investment.

We and our tribal co-managers are committed to integrating hatcheries into salmon-recovery efforts, watershed by watershed.

We are committed to remaining accountable as we carry out this critical task.

We ask everyone here to support us in finishing the job-in ensuring that Washington's hatcheries maintain salmon resources and fishing opportunities into the future.