At the Board's January meeting, Bruce Measure, the Chair of the Fish Passage Center (FPC) Oversight Board, explained that the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program is now open for amendment recommendations. He offered the following list of ideas for the Board to consider for possible amendments in the Council’s program:

  • Data management and storage
  • Review of the FPC director
  • Provisions for FPC Oversight Board
  • Provision for a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
  • Reference specifically to FPC in the Fish and Wildlife program

Here are some of the conclusions that the board came to with regard to potential amendments to the program for FPC:

  1. There is language in the Program related to the formation of a technical advisory committee to establish and review technical protocols and scientific requirements for the FPC and review scientific and technical aspects of the FPC’s performance and report to the Board. The Board agreed this language needed to be amended and sent this issue to the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority for discussion and a recommendation. The thought is that we do not need to form a new group but can use the current Independent Science Advisory Board structure that is already in place.
  2. The Board agreed that language in the Program related to a review of the Fish Passage Center director needs to be deleted or significantly changed.
  3. The Board had concerns about language in the Program describing the FPC’s role, including what it means for the FPC to “gather” and “to house” data. The Board sees this as an opportunity to clarify these in terms of what is an official repository function and what is an archival function of the FPC. The Board is working on language with the FPC and the Council's lawyer, John Shurts to clarify this.

For more of the detailed discussion that took place at the Board's January meeting, please see the meeting minutes.