In a recently published study, scientists investigating the endangered southern resident killer whales have made a noteworthy observation: the prevalence of skin disease within this population has shown a significant increase.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries are proposing regulations the agencies say will restore protections for species, strengthen consultation and listing processes, and “reaffirm the central role science plays” in decisions that guide the protection and recovery of endangered and threatened wildlife.
In a January letter, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council invited Oregon and Washington transportation agencies to meet jointly to discuss their mutual problem of double-crested cormorants on the Astoria-Megler Bridge that spans the Columbia River estuary at Astoria, OR.
In a presentation to update the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, the Yakama Nation says it will begin work at its existing spring Chinook salmon hatchery on southern Washington’s Klickitat River late summer this year, with construction extending out 18 months to March 2025.
In a settlement agreement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to reconsider whether West Coast fishers in northern California and southern Oregon warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The rapid growth of harmful algae along parts of the Southern California Coast is believed to have killed hundreds of California sea lions and close to 60 dolphins in the first weeks of June.
Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Troopers discovered fish with embedded hooks, sliced fins, circular scabs, and other evidence of illegal tactics, while assisting ODFW hatchery staff during the spring salmon spawning season.
All parties, both plaintiffs and defendants, along with the State of Alaska, have unsuccessfully challenged the results of a recent lower federal court decision that vacated a part of NOAA Fisheries’ 2019 biological opinion governing Southeast Alaska’s summer and winter commercial troll fishing for Chinook salmon. The litigation now moves to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The breeding season for avian predators, March–August, overlaps with the peak out-migration of juvenile salmon and steelhead, April -- August, according to a recent survey of literature that looked specifically at peer-reviewed studies of Caspian terns, double-crested cormorants and gulls that prey on salmonids in the Columbia River basin.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) this week joined U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad to announce an $83 million commitment to rebuild the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, $240 million for Northwest salmon and steelhead hatchery infrastructure, and $60 million for Mitchell Act hatcheries.
Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been able to gain the body fat they need for hibernation even as population densities have increased and as climate change and human impacts have changed the availability of some foods, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey and its partners.
After catch data analysis showed allowable harvest impacts to wild spring chinook have been exceeded, Oregon and Washington fisheries managers on extremely short notice shut down salmon and steelhead fishing on the Columbia River.
Fishery managers from Washington and Oregon added eleven recreational fishing days (Thursday, May 25-Sunday, June 4) to the ongoing spring Chinook fishery downstream of Bonneville Dam during a joint state hearing Wednesday.
Since their protection under the Endangered Species Act, wolf populations have been making a comeback in the continental United States. Conservationists have argued that the presence of wolves and other apex predators, so named because they have no known predators aside from people, can help keep smaller predator species in check.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Rivers have filed a petition to list Washington coast spring Chinook salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Spending on maintenance of Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead hatcheries, as well as fish screens, could see a significant bump in fiscal year 2024 if the full Northwest Power and Conservation Council approves a plan endorsed this week by the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee. That approval could come as early as the body’s June meeting.
The number of spring/summer Chinook salmon adult returns produced by the eleven Lower Snake River Compensation Plan hatchery programs has declined by 75 percent since the program’s first years and, overall, has not produced the nearly 59,000 returning Chinook adults that is the program’s goal, according to a recent review by an independent panel of scientists.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed new legislation to create a mandatory 1,000-yard vessel buffer around Southern Resident killer whales to protect the endangered population from vessel noise and disturbance. The expanded buffer requirement goes into effect January 2025.
For the first time, a newly published artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is allowing researchers to quickly and accurately estimate coastal fish stocks without ever entering the water. This breakthrough could save millions of dollars in annual research and monitoring costs while bringing data access to least-developed countries about the sustainability of their fish stocks.
Increasing caribou populations in northeastern British Columbia demonstrate that partnerships between Indigenous and colonial governments can reverse prolonged declines, yet the emphasis must now be placed on establishing culturally significant restoration objectives, assert a collective of scholars and community members in a recent publication featured in Science this week.
A federal court this week rejected a NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion allowing the Southeast Alaska commercial troll fishery to harvest Chinook salmon, effectively shutting down that summer and winter fishery. The ruling will be challenged by the State of Alaska, including a request for a stay so the fishery can go ahead this summer.
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information that leads to a civil penalty or criminal conviction of the boater observed driving through resting California sea lions in the Columbia River on April 3, 2023, near Hayden Island, Oregon.
About 200 sea lions were counted last week in the Columbia River between the I-205 Bridge and Bonneville Dam, a 36-mile stretch of river, spurring states and tribes to begin trapping and euthanizing the pinnipeds at Bonneville Dam.
A new study assesses the marine distribution of dozens of infectious agents in wild Pacific salmon in the marine environment. The novel study reveals where salmon populations have experienced infection “hotspots,” some featuring potentially detrimental pathogens.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission accepted a petition to list the Southern Resident killer whale Distinct Population Segment as endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.
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