Completion of a comprehensive review of Columbia Basin hatchery practices
may be pushed back to October while "holes" in the report to Congress are
filled.
Those holes include the development of "performance standards" by which
individual hatcheries can be judged and the refinement of proposed policy
implementation measures, according to John Shurts, general counsel for
the Northwest Power Planning Council. Those performance standards will
be included in the "implementation" section ...

A panel of scientists gathered July
1 agreed that climatic and ocean
conditions can greatly affect the
numbers of salmon that return to the
Columbia River Basin to spawn and
complete their life cycle.
But they also warned that information
is still limited about specific
ocean survival cause-and-effects,
and that salmon recovery hopes can't
be pinned solely on a predicted
return to more favorable ocean
conditions.
Fisheries scientists gathered in
Portland last week to explain ...

This year's independent scientific review of proposed Columbia River
Basin fish and wildlife projects included the most detailed look to
date
of nearly 400 project proposals totaling $229 million.
The result? More than 400 pages of advice, criticisms and funding
recommendations from the Independent Scientific Review Panel and a
band
of peer reviewers.
The report shows, in many instances, marked differences in emphasis
from
recommendations compiled by the region's fish and wildlife ...