The Northwest Power Planning Council on Wednesday recommended the expenditure of $462,000 to have its artificial production review process complete draft documents that are necessary for Columbia Basin salmon hatcheries to gain "coverage" under the Endangered Species Act.
A panel of independent economists this week outlined its conclusions and recommendations based on an analysis of the costs of rearing and releasing fish at eight Columbia Basin hatcheries.
Six lamprey species were added last week to the Oregon list of endangered species by the state's Fish and Wildlife Commission, bringing the total number of lamprey species protected by the state to seven.
Some called the process rigged. Others -- including attorneys hired by two Washington counties -- said any approval of a water quality certification application related to the removal of Condit Dam would almost certainly be illegal.
Expectations for 2002's summer chinook salmon return to the Columbia River have been downgraded slightly but the banner run is still affording tribal and non-Indian fishers opportunities that they haven't enjoyed in decades.
Rod Sando, the new executive director of the Portland-based Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, has stepped into his new position amid a world of change -- for the organization, and for the basin's recovery and enhancement effort as a whole.
A final supplemental environmental impact statement issued this week recommends that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allow the surrender of the federal hydroelectric license for southwest Washington's Condit Dam and a one-year dismantling of the structure that would begin late in 2006.
An interim agreement to provide water for endangered upper Columbia River steelhead in the Naches River near Yakima was inked last week by PacifiCorp and the Bureau of Reclamation.
Complicated and uncertain science, and similarly complex legal and policy issues, have turned the National Marine Fisheries Service's "hatchery policy" deliberations into the proverbial 900-pound gorilla -- a creature that essentially sets its own schedule.
The purpose of the first meeting this week in Portland of a task force to set rule language for Oregon's draft Native Fish Conservation Policy was to give volunteers a solid grounding in the issue.
However, differences already are arising about how to define a native fish and the proper role of hatchery fish in Oregon's fisheries management -- not surprising considering the diverse membership.
An abundant Methow River Basin spring chinook salmon return has allowed federal, state and tribal fishery officials to again implement a plan that involves the capture of naturally spawning fish to reinvigorate hatchery programs and allows any "surplus" hatchery returns to find spawning grounds in the wild.
The rigors of economic analysis should be a part of the 62 subbasin plans the Northwest Power Planning Council will consider before it approves projects recommended by those plans, according to the Independent Economic Analysis Board.
The zebra mussel, a small freshwater mollusk native to the Caspian and Black seas, has infested rivers in the eastern United States and now threatens to ride the Lewis and Clark Trail into western streams.
Federal agencies are urging all boaters to examine their craft for the prolific pests and report sightings immediately on a hotline.
An envisioned 10-year plan for managing the federal Klamath Project failed to clear its final hurdle this week with the Bureau of Reclamation's regional chief criticizing federal fish agencies' strategies for protecting fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Oregon's seven-member Fish and Wildlife Commission asked for, and got, an earful Thursday in what is the second in a series of sessions planned to gather insight on gray wolf management.
Former Idaho Department of Fish and Game director Rodney W. Sando has accepted the appointment as executive director of the Portland, Ore.,-based Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority.
Biological opinions released by two federal agencies last week said a project that will deepen by three feet the Columbia River shipping channel from Portland, Ore., to Astoria will pose no jeopardy to 13 species of salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout listed, or being considered, under the federal Endangered Species Act.
A recently released draft Methow River Basin spring chinook genetic analysis says that it is too late to segregate an Upper Columbia salmon melting pot by phasing out the so-called "Carson" bloodlines in favor of "Methow composite" stock in hatchery operations.
A draft report now out for technical review likens the impact of predatory Caspian terns on migrating Columbia Basin juvenile salmon and steelhead to those brought by human activities that increase fish mortality.
The federal action agencies say they are "right on track" in implementing measures called for in a December 2000 federal fish recovery plan for the Columbia Basin.
Critics call that assertion a "fairy tale."
As they put the final touches on their hatchery economics report, the Northwest Power Planning Council's Independent Economic Advisory Board considered how to value hatcheries used specifically to supplement or augment wild salmon and steelhead runs.
The 2002 spring chinook salmon season was definitely not a letdown for Columbia River mainstem fishers thrilled by last year's record bounty.
The National Marine Fisheries Service on Thursday had not yet determined a
course of action for 68,000 sockeye salmon smolts infected with an
untreatable kidney virus, but it's clear that Idaho does not want the fish
in three Sawtooth Valley lakes.
Sport fishing for hatchery spring chinook has been extended through May 15
on the lower Columbia River -- and tribal commercial fishers get another
harvest opportunity this week -- after estimates of the 2002 upriver run
were revised upward for the second time in a week.
The Caspian terns that assemble each spring, in recent history, in the
Columbia River estuary to breed, and hatch and rear their young, seem
unruffled by the legal and political gyrations that preceded their return
to the Pacific Northwest.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
