Scientists and policymakers converged at the conference Friday (Nov. 14), titled "Salmon Crossroads: Record Runs and New Directions," where before an audience made up largely of utility representatives, they debated how to interpret the recent favorable salmon return news and what to do next.
David B. Allen, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Region, has received a Meritorious Service Award for outstanding contributions and leadership. It is the Department of the Interior’s second highest award.
First it was Hungry Horse Reservoir and now it's proposed for Lake
Koocanusa -- by next spring anglers may be fishing for bull trout, a
threatened species, in both reservoirs.
The two disparate Columbia River mainstem user groups -- commercial gill-netters and sport anglers -- on Wednesday clung stubbornly to their pet options on how the 2004 spring chinook salmon return, predicted to be bountiful, should be divided between them.
The higher number of chum salmon present and spawning, prompted fisheries managers in a special Technical Management Team (TMT) meeting this week to ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration to raise flows at the dam in order to create more spawning habitat for the species.
“I'm disappointed that the plaintiffs are discussing the Upper Snake in Judge James Redden’s court,” Crapo said. “We take this threat to Idaho water and state water sovereignty very seriously. As long as the plaintiffs pursue a litigation strategy, we will be forced to aggressively defend Idaho's water and we will do just that.”
In the past, some Eastern Washington residents have become infected with tularemia after skinning rabbits. Humans can also contract the disease by being bitten by insects that have fed on infected animals, inhaling dust from contaminated soil, entering or drinking from contaminated waterways, or eating infected, undercooked wild meat. Some human cases of tularemia have been attributed to handling rodents or other animals that pet cats or dogs caught and brought home.
Conference co-sponsors include the Bonneville Power Administration; the Northwest Power and Conservation Council; Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee; Portland General Electric; Grant, Chelan and Douglas County public utility districts; Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative; Pacific Northwest Waterways Association; NOAA Fisheries; and Weyerhaeuser and Energy News Data.
The Columbia River spring chinook allocation decision generated considerable discussion Friday among commissioners, staff and members of the public because the fish is highly prized for its flavor. Commercially-caught fish garner top dollar in the early season and the sport season provides a large economic boost to urban and rural communities along the lower Columbia River.
Subbasin planning participants responded coolly this week to the prospect that they will be asked to redirect some portion of their energies to help NOAA Fisheries shape a new biological opinion regarding operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System.
Despite the presence of the chum salmon, listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened, the Technical Management Team this week agreed to change operations at the dam only if the change doesn't impact the amount of water stored in Lake Roosevelt, backed up behind Grand Coulee Dam, and if it continues to give the Bonneville Power Administration the flexibility it needs at the dam to move water at critical times.
The commercial harvest totaled 173.3 million fish, about 22 million fish over the 2003 forecast level of 150.9 million fish.
A $50 million remodeling project at Bonneville Dam's second powerhouse is expected to draw more migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead away from hydro turbines and deliver them to a safer place in the Columbia River below.
Construction is all but complete on the modification of the powerhouse's trash and ice chute, which has long been a preferred route past the dam.
Larry Cassidy, a Washington member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, has been appointed chairman of the Pacific Salmon Commission, an agency of the governments of the United States and Canada that implements the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
The research was just published in a professional journal, the U.S. Fishery Bulletin, by scientists from Oregon State University and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It may have important implications for management of a commercial fishery and our understanding of marine biology, as well as challenge some erroneous assumptions about the life cycle of this never-say-die marine species.
Jim Kramer and his son, Rusty, each received framed certificates of appreciation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for voluntarily calling federal authorities Oct. 3 after accidentally catching a large male wolf in a coyote trap. They kenneled the animal using a homemade catch-pole.
Kirk Zehner, 33, of Walla Walla was bending over the carcass of an elk shot by a member of his hunting party, skinning knife in hand, when something hit him from behind, knocking him on to the carcass and driving his head into the ground.
Catch-and-release rules for salmon and steelhead: The proposal would make it illegal in freshwater areas -- except in the Buoy 10 area on the Columbia River -- to remove salmon or steelhead from the water, if anglers are required to release the fish. The proposal is aimed at reducing handling stress on released fish.
Salmon release in Marine Areas 5-13: The proposal would make it illegal to bring on board a vessel any salmon that is required to be released in Marine Areas 5-13.
The plans, known as Hatchery Genetic Management Plans (HGMPs), detail the operations of each artificial production program for salmon and steelhead in the Puget Sound region. Prepared in conjunction with Puget Sound treaty tribes, the plans also describe the potential effects of each program on salmon and steelhead species that are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management today announced the release of a "Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement" that proposes wording changes in the Aquatic Conservation Strategy of the Northwest Forest Plan.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking public comments on a draft recovery plan for sage-grouse, which were listed by the state as a threatened species in 1998.
A project to evaluate the damage being done by these so-called “ghosts nets,” and recover them, was cited in a recent Federal Caucus mailing as one of the hundreds of steps that have been taken since late 2000 to improve the survival of salmon and steelhead stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Four special interest groups have agreed to drop their lawsuit against the federal government on the promise that NOAA Fisheries will deliver its findings on the Endangered Species Act status of eight Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead stocks by March 31, 2004.
A draft plan that sets out an approach on how research in the lower Columbia River estuary and its plume should proceed is in the peer review process and is nearing its implementation date in February 2004.
The department is accepting written comment from Nov. 3 until Feb. 3 on the proposed listing and the draft species status report which prompted the listing proposal. The draft status report, which can be viewed at http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/wlm/diversty/soc/status/orca/index.htm on the WDFW website, details possible factors in the decline of the southern resident orca population that inhabits Washington waters.
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