Some Melting In March But Columbia Basin Water Supply Forecast Improves, 90 Percent Of Average At Dalles Dam (April-Sept)
April 12th, 2025
Warmer temperatures with some snowmelt and near- or wetter-than-normal precipitation in much of the Columbia River basin in March led to some early runoff but overall resulted in higher April-Sept. water supply forecasts and a better outlook for stream flows in the basin that will aid juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead migrations this summer, according to a NOAA water supply briefing last week.
Harmful Algae Blooming Off Southern California Coast Poisoning Sea Lions, Dolphins; Stranding In Large Numbers On Beaches
March 31st, 2025
West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network partners are reporting upwards of 100 calls a day reporting sea lions and dolphins affected by the algal toxin, domoic acid.
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Columbia Basin Water Supply Forecast, April-September, Remains Below Normal, Coming Precipitation Could Help
March 15th, 2025
2025 is forming to be the third consecutive year of low Columbia River basin water supplies, with the latest forecast April-September at The Dalles Dam of just 85 percent of the 30-year average, according to a NOAA water supply briefing this week.
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Lawsuit Filed In Effort To Stop Musk’s DOGE From Taking Further Actions Against Multiple Environmental Agencies
March 15th, 2025
Center for Biological Diversity, Federal Aviation Administration, Litigation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Public Articles, US Bureau of Land Management, US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of Commerce, US Department of Transportation, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, US National Park Service
The Center for Biological Diversity has sued five cabinet-level agencies seeking to stop the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its DOGE teams from taking further actions against multiple environmental agencies until each team fully complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
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Corps Still Determining How To Implement Changes At Willamette Valley Dams With Funding Still Uncertain
February 25th, 2025
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still determining “how to proceed” in implementing actions directed by the 2024 Water Resources Development Act and a new jeopardy biological opinion for its 13 Willamette River projects completed by NOAA Fisheries Dec. 26. The Corps says that it still needs funds from Congress that it could get through the annual federal budget that is working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, but that the efforts are also complicated by the change in administration at the federal government. “We are working with our headquarters (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers … Continue reading
California Awards $15 Million For Salmon, Steelhead Restoration Projects
February 7th, 2025
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has announced the selection of 15 projects that will receive funding for the restoration, enhancement and protection of salmon and steelhead (anadromous salmonid) habitat in California watersheds.
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Though Doesn’t Feel Like It Right Now, Columbia Basin Water Supply Forecast For April-September Still Dropping
February 7th, 2025
A drier than normal January is contributing to February’s lower Columbia River basin water supply forecasts for the months ahead.
Conservation Groups File Lawsuit Calling For NOAA Fisheries To Speed Up ESA Listing Of Olympic Peninsula Summer, Winter Steelhead
February 7th, 2025
Western Washington’s Olympic Peninsula summer and winter steelhead were found by NOAA Fisheries in November 2024 to be at moderate risk of extinction, but the federal agency has yet to list the fish as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, according to a new complaint filed Jan. 17 in federal court by The Conservation Angler and the Wild Fish Conservancy.
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4-Month Survey Offers Most Thorough Data Ever Of Marine Mammals, Seabirds Off West Coast, Some Species Shifting North
February 7th, 2025
NOAA Fisheries scientists have completed a 4-month, roughly 4,500-nautical-mile, survey of marine mammals and seabirds off the U.S. West Coast.
Columbia River Basin Snowpack A Mixed Bag So Far, Water Supply Forecast At Dalles Dam (April-August) Now 89 Percent Of Normal
January 20th, 2025
Although the snowpack in the western and southern portions of the Columbia River basin are higher than normal, other areas to the north and to the east are near- to lower-than-normal, and, as a result, January water supplies at key dams are being reported as below or slightly below normal.
This Year’s Ocean Indicators Show Low Prey Numbers For Pacific Juvenile Salmon, Suggest Moderate-To-Poor Conditions For Young Salmon
December 15th, 2024
How did climate change impact ocean waters off the U.S. West Coast this past year? What does that tell us about the growth and survival of juvenile salmon for the years to come?
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NOAA Status Review Of Four Northern California/Southern Oregon Salmon/Steelhead Species Says All Should Remain ESA-Listed
December 15th, 2024
NOAA Fisheries has completed 5-year status reviews of the recovery progress and prospects of four salmon and steelhead species in Northern California and Southern Oregon and found that all four should remain threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
New NOAA Status Review Shows Olympic Peninsula Wild Steelhead Numbers In Steep Decline, Now At Moderate Risk Of Extinction
December 9th, 2024
A NOAA Fisheries biological status review team has determined that the summer and winter Olympic Peninsula steelhead are at moderate risk of extinction, a reversal of the previous status review in the 1990s that had determined the fish were not at risk of becoming threatened or endangered then or in the future.
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Count Of Mother-Calf Gray Whale Pairs Off West Coast One Of Lowest On Record Due To Reduced Food Availability In Arctic
November 18th, 2024
The number of gray whale calves migrating with their mothers along the California Coast this year was one of the lowest on record.
Researchers Find They Can Use E-DNA To Estimate Biomass Of Multiple Alaska Fish Species Simultaneously
November 18th, 2024
In a new study, NOAA Fisheries scientists, in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, show that it is possible to estimate fish biomass for more than one species at the same time, using environmental DNA (eDNA).
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NOAA Awards $9.2 Million To Academic Cooperative Institutes For Pacific Salmon Recovery Science
November 18th, 2024
NOAA Fisheries has awarded more than $9.2 million in grants funded by the Inflation Reduction Act to academic partners that will help recover threatened and endangered Pacific salmon.
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Nov.-April Operations At Bonneville Dam For ESA-Listed Chum Salmon To Begin; La Nina Coming, Bringing Wet Weather, Possible ‘Drought Removal’
November 1st, 2024
Threatened Chum salmon are arriving at spawning grounds downstream of Bonneville Dam, prompting the interagency Technical Management Team to begin operations at the dam designed to maintain a certain level of water over the fish as they spawn now and through emergence in April.
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For First Time Scientists Find Japanese Sardines In California Current, Marine Heatwaves May Have Opened Corridor Across North Pacific
November 1st, 2024
When research scientist Gary Longo first saw the results of his genomic analysis of sardines, he thought he must have mixed up his samples.
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NOAA Releases ‘West Coast Offshore Wind Energy Strategic Science Plan’ To Guide Research On Impacts To Marine Life
November 1st, 2024
Offshore wind energy may represent the most significant new commercial use of the ocean seen in many decades. As new offshore wind technology emerges off the U.S. West Coast, NOAA Fisheries has developed a strategic science plan identifying both opportunities and challenges for advancing the agency’s research and understanding of offshore wind in the region.
Tribal, Federal, State Leaders Celebrate $240 Million In Federal Funding For Maintenance, Upgrades To Tribal Salmon, Steelhead Hatcheries
October 18th, 2024
Tribal, federal, and state leaders gathered at the Tulalip Reservation earlier this month to celebrate $240 million in federal funding for tribal hatcheries. The Inflation Reduction Act investment will help 27 tribes from Northern California to Southeast Alaska meet maintenance and modernization needs of tribal Pacific salmon and steelhead hatcheries.
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NOAA Issues New EIS, BiOp To Allow Summer, Winter SE Alaska Chinook Troll Fishery Halted By Federal Judge In May
October 8th, 2024
Commercial troll fishermen in Southeast Alaska may soon be able to again legally fish for Chinook salmon in waters off the Alaskan shore. The SE Alaska troll fleet was facing a near shutdown of fishing after a District Court judge in May remanded NOAA Fisheries’ 2019 biological opinion and incidental take statement for the fishery.
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EIS Out For Public Comment On Hatchery Program To Increase Chinook Salmon For Southern Resident Killer Whales
October 8th, 2024
NOAA Fisheries is asking the public to weigh in on alternatives on how to fund a controversial hatchery-driven prey increase program that it says would provide 4- to 5-percent more Chinook salmon in Puget Sound for endangered Orcas.
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All Four Lower Klamath River Dams Removed, Several Years Work Ahead To Restore Formerly Submerged Lands
October 8th, 2024
All four lower Klamath River hydropower dams have been removed. Kiewit, the dam removal contractor hired by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to complete the construction elements of the project, finished all work this month in the river.
2024 Draft Annual Salmon Survival Report: Smolt-To-Adult Return Rates Won’t Meet Regional Goals Under Non-Breach Alternatives
October 8th, 2024
The latest draft annual survival study by the Fish Passage Center confirms what the organization has found each year since 2019, that recovery of salmon and steelhead in the Snake River will not occur without breaching the four lower Snake River dams.
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Conservation Groups Settle Lawsuit With WDFW Over Lower Columbia River Hatcheries, Litigation Continues With NOAA, ODFW
September 28th, 2024
A lawsuit contending that lower Columbia River hatcheries downstream of Bonneville Dam are a threat to wild salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act was settled in part last week.