Research

Study Shows Difficulty Of Predicting Drought In American West, El Nino Cycles Unreliable; Atmospheric Dynamic The Wild Card

August 13th, 2020

People hoping to get a handle on future droughts in the American West are in for a disappointment, as new University of Southern California-led research spanning centuries shows El Niño cycles are an unreliable predictor.

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In New Research NOAA Scientists Introduce ‘Thermal Displacement’ Metric Showing How Ocean Heatwaves Shift Habitats

August 6th, 2020

Marine heatwaves across the world's oceans can displace habitat for sea turtles, whales, and other marine life by 10s to thousands of kilometers. They dramatically shift these animals' preferred temperatures in a fraction of the time that climate change is expected to do, new research shows.

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How Do Steelhead Build Their Nests? Eavesdropping Seismic Sensors In Washington River Stirs Up Some Answers

July 30th, 2020

Steelhead trout stir up the sediment of the river bed when building their spawning pits, thus influencing the composition of the river bed and the transport of sediment. Until now, this process could only be studied visually, irregularly and with great effort in the natural environment of the fish.

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Research

Researcher Says Climate Scientists Ignoring Role Indigenous Peoples Played In Fire, Vegetation Dynamics

July 30th, 2020

In their zeal to promote the importance of climate change as an ecological driver, climate scientists increasingly are ignoring the profound role that indigenous peoples played in fire and vegetation dynamics, not only in the eastern United States but worldwide, according to a Penn State researcher.

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Alaska Study Provides First Evidence State’s Chinook Salmon Declines Partly Due To Climate-Driven Changes In Freshwater

July 9th, 2020

A new University of Alaska-led study provides the first evidence that declines in many of Alaska's chinook salmon populations can be attributed in part to climate-driven changes in their freshwater habitats.

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Researchers Quantify Relationship Between Caspian Tern Predation Rates On Upper Columbia River Juvenile Steelhead And Returning Adult Fish

July 2nd, 2020

Caspian tern predation on steelhead smolts in the Columbia River has reduced the size of the juvenile migration by more than 20 percent each year also has reduced the number of adult steelhead that return to the river several years later.

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Study Shows Reproductive Potential Of Chinook Salmon Reduced 24-35 Percent As Returning Fish Younger, Smaller

June 25th, 2020

Adult chinook salmon are returning from the ocean to rivers along North America’s West Coast at younger ages and smaller sizes (about 5 to 8 percent in the Yukon River) since the 1970s. The smaller size is resulting in a drop in reproductive potential for female salmon by 24 to 35 percent, based on total egg mass per female, according to a recent study.

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Vancouver Island Sea Otter Recovery; Study Shows Financial Benefits, Ecological Changes Benefitting Salmon

June 18th, 2020

Since their reintroduction to the Pacific coast in the 1970s, the sea otters' rapid recovery and voracious appetite for tasty shellfish such as urchins, clams and crabs has brought them into conflict with coastal communities and fishers, who rely on the same valuable fisheries for food and income.

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Ocean Warming, Hatchery Fish Crowding In North Pacific Reducing British Columbia Sockeye Survival

May 29th, 2020

The northeast Pacific Ocean from the Fraser River to the Bering Sea is warming, but it is also becoming more crowded with hatchery pink and chum salmon produced in Alaska and Russia. The competition for food by hatchery pink salmon in a warming ocean has resulted in a 15 percent drop in survival of sockeye salmon returning to the Fraser River and other streams in British Columbia, according to a study released this week.

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Study Looks At Impact Of Warmed California Current On Diet/Growth Of Columbia River Steelhead; Longer, Thinner Fish

May 29th, 2020

Ocean temperatures that in 2015 and 2016 were abnormally warm – at times more than 2.5 degrees Celsius higher than normal – stressed juvenile steelhead just entering the California Current and impacted their size and condition. Most of the change occurred in the first few days after ocean entry, according to a recent study.

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Increasing Aridity Clear Trend Across The West; Declining Flows, Drier Soils, Tree Death, Stressed Crops, Wildfires, Protracted Drought

May 21st, 2020

Discussions of drought often center on the lack of precipitation. But among climate scientists, the focus is shifting to include the growing role that warming temperatures are playing as potent drivers of greater aridity and drought intensification.

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OSU Study Shows Salmon Use Microscopic Magnetite Crystals In Tissue As Map, Compass

May 8th, 2020

Researchers in Oregon State University's College of Agricultural Sciences have taken a step closer to solving one of nature's most remarkable mysteries: How do salmon, when it's time to spawn, find their way back from distant ocean locations to the stream where they hatched?

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Focused On West Coast California Current System, Researchers Develop Method To Forecast Ocean Acidity Up To 5 Years In Advance

May 8th, 2020

University of Colorado researchers have developed a method that could enable scientists to accurately forecast ocean acidity up to five years in advance. This would enable fisheries and communities that depend on seafood negatively affected by ocean acidification to adapt to changing conditions in real time, improving economic and food security in the next few decades.

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OSU Monitoring Of Oregon’s Gray Whales Shows Changes In Health Related To Ocean Conditions, Poor Upwelling

May 1st, 2020

Three years of “health check-ups” on Oregon’s summer resident gray whales shows a compelling relationship between whales’ overall body condition and changing ocean conditions that likely limited availability of prey for the mammals, a new study from Oregon State University indicates.

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Weak Winds Drove 2019 Marine Heat Wave In North Pacific; As If Ocean Stuck Outside On Hot Day With No Wind To Cool It Down

April 23rd, 2020

Weakened wind patterns likely spurred the wave of extreme ocean heat that swept the North Pacific last summer, according to new research led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

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Study Looks At Movement of Plastic Through Urban Watershed And Impacts Of Ingestion By Fish

March 26th, 2020

In a sampling of fish from a creek that flows into San Diego Bay, nearly a quarter contain microplastics, according to a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE. The study, which examined plastics in coastal sediments and three species of fish, showed that the frequency and types of plastic ingested varied with fish species and, in some cases, size or age of fish.

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Good Columbia River Return For ESA-Listed Smelt This Year; Researchers Learning More On Spawning Activities

March 19th, 2020

Once the run is complete, a biologist with the Washington fishery department said that some 7.5 million pounds of eulachon, also known as Pacific smelt, will have entered the Columbia River. That’s 3 million pounds more than showed up in 2019.

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Study Looks At How Retreating Glaciers In Western North America Will Impact Salmon Populations; Some May Benefit

March 12th, 2020

A new Simon Fraser University-led study looking at the effects that glacier retreat will have on western North American Pacific salmon predicts that while some salmon populations may struggle, others may benefit.

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Idaho Study Seeks Insights Into Physiological Conditions Necessary For Female Steelhead To Spawn Second Time

March 5th, 2020

The physical condition of a female steelhead at its first spawning can predict the ability of the fish to spawn a second time a year later, according to a recent study that measured body chemicals and condition in female hatchery fish.

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Study Says Irrigation Of Cattle Feed Crops Single Largest Consumptive Use Of Water, 32 Percent In Western U.S.

March 5th, 2020

Across the globe, humans are using freshwater resources faster than those resources can be naturally replenished. In the Western United States, for example, water extractions from the Colorado River have exceeded total river flow, causing rapid depletion of water storage reservoirs. In addition, as these water sources dry up, species of fish, plants and animals are also adversely impacted.

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Study Finds 1-Year Hatchery Steelhead Males More Spawning Success Than 2-Year; Info Helps Optimize Rearing Strategies

January 30th, 2020

Steelhead reared in a hatchery for one year consistently outperformed males reared in the hatchery for two years when competing for spawning opportunities, although one and two year old female steelhead did not differ in their ability to produce offspring, according to recent study.

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Study Offers ‘Lessons Learned’ From Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board Habitat Restoration Monitoring

December 12th, 2019

A large-scale and long-term monitoring of habitat restoration projects in the state of Washington found that the size and depth of pools created by the restoration projects failed to fully remain in place after year 10 at 23 monitored projects.

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Study Looking At 65 Years Of Puget Sound Hatchery Practices Questions Trend Toward Releasing Larger Juvenile Fish

November 21st, 2019

A recent study examining salmon hatchery operations practices in the Salish Sea (Puget Sound) in Washington State for the past 65 years finds that current practices are releasing juvenile salmon at a larger size than in the past – a size preferred by predators – and with decreasing diversity. It calls for a consideration of modifying hatchery programs to allow for more diversity by reducing this size homogenization.

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Walleye Study Suggests Climate Change Should Prompt New Ways To Manage Inland Recreational Fisheries

November 20th, 2019

There's a long-standing belief in the freshwater fishing community that once anglers find it too hard to land a particular fish for their dinner plate, they either move on to fishing for different species or fish in new waters, giving depleted populations time to rebound.

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NOAA Fisheries Study Suggests Fish Size Affects Snake River Salmon/Steelhead Survival More Than Route Through Dams

November 14th, 2019

The survival of juvenile Snake River salmon and steelhead and their eventual return to spawning streams as adults depends more on the juveniles' size than the way they pass through hydroelectric dams on their migration to the ocean, new research shows.

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Study: Laundered Clothes Bringing Microplastics To Oysters, Clams On Oregon Coast Through Wastewater

November 13th, 2019

Tiny threads of plastics are showing up in Pacific oysters and razor clams along the Oregon coast -- and the yoga pants, fleece jackets, and sweat-wicking clothing that Pacific Northwesterners love to wear are a source of that pollution, according to a new Portland State University study.

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Science Panel Completes Review Of Report On Feasibility Of Reintroducing Anadromous Salmonids Above Grand Coulee Dam

November 7th, 2019

A panel of scientists completed a review of the Upper Columbia United Tribes’ phase 1 report that describes the feasibility of reintroducing salmon and steelhead into the reaches of the Columbia River upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams.

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Grande Ronde River Study Shows How Adding Fish Carcasses (With Eggs) Improves Juvenile Salmon,Steelhead Growth Rates

November 7th, 2019

The addition of steelhead carcasses to tributaries of the Grande Ronde River in northeastern Oregon resulted in short-term increases in the growth rates, body condition and size of juvenile chinook salmon and steelhead, factors that may contribute to their survival, according to a recent study.

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Middle Fork Salmon River: ‘Shifting Baseline Syndrome’ Skews Wilderness River’s True Abundance Potential For Spring/Summer Chinook

October 31st, 2019

Natural abundance potential of spring/summer chinook salmon in the Middle Fork Salmon River of Idaho recalculated by three biologists is far higher than most current management goals for the fish by NOAA Fisheries, the Nez Perce Tribe and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, according to a recent study.

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NOAA Identifies New Pacific Subspecies Of Fin Whale; 14,000-18,000 Whales Part of New Designation

October 31st, 2019

New genetic research has identified fin whales in the northern Pacific Ocean as a separate subspecies, reflecting a revolution in marine mammal taxonomy as scientists unravel the genetics of enormous animals otherwise too large to fit into laboratories.

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Study Looks At How ‘Climate Reshuffling’ Since 1980s Has Impacted Salmon Productivity In Alaska, B.C., Washington

October 3rd, 2019

Traditionally it was thought that warm coastal water temperatures in Alaska were considered beneficial for salmon productivity, while the opposite was true off the coasts of British Columbia and Washington State where warmer temperatures were not as good for salmon.

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Did 1964 Alaska Earthquake, Tsunamis Lead To Mysterious (Sometimes Fatal) Tropical Fungal Outbreak In Pacific Northwest?

October 3rd, 2019

The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 and the tsunamis it spawned may have washed a tropical fungus ashore, leading to a subsequent outbreak of often-fatal infections among people in coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest, according to a paper co-authored by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the nonprofit Translational Genomics Research Institute.

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Council Reduces Science Review Panel’s (ISAB) Budget, Says No Impact To Work: Cost Savings Might Go To Pike Suppression

September 19th, 2019

The annual budget for a panel of scientists that review fish and wildlife projects and regional research issues was cut by almost $200,000 by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council at its meeting in Corvallis, Sept. 18, and the cost savings could be used for Northern pike monitoring and suppression, according to Council staff.

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Research Collaboration Shows Rapid Decline Of Hoary Bat, Victim Of Wind Power, In PNW; Provides Pollination, Pest Control

September 11th, 2019

The hoary bat, the species of bat most frequently found dead at wind power facilities, is declining at a rate that threatens its long-term future in the Pacific Northwest, according to a novel and comprehensive research collaboration based at Oregon State University – Cascades (Bend).

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Study Stresses Importance Of Prey Availability For Coho Smolts As Streams Warm

September 11th, 2019

To a certain extent, coho salmon smolts can withstand temperatures somewhat higher than previously thought to be optimal for survival and growth, and, in fact, will even grow faster and larger in higher temperatures, although survival may drop. However, the important variable in their growth over summer periods is the availability and abundance of invertebrate prey for the young salmon to eat, according to a recent study.

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Portland State Study Estimates Decline In PNW Average Snowfall Frequency Due To Global Warming

September 3rd, 2019

With warming temperatures, average snowfall frequency is estimated to decline across the Pacific Northwest by 2100 -- and at a faster rate if greenhouse emissions are not reduced, according to a new Portland State University study.

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Study Suggests Solar/Photovoltaic Arrays Could Replace Hydro Power, Use Less Land, Boost Fish Runs

August 28th, 2019

In what the lead author says is a “thought experiment,” a new study says that solar and photovoltaic arrays – many on the site of former dams – could produce enough power to replace most hydroelectric dams in the United States, giving salmon, sturgeon, shad and other fish runs unimpeded access to spawning grounds.

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Repeat Steelhead Spawners (Kelts): University of Idaho Study Looks At Differences In Consecutive Spawning Vs. Skip Spawners

August 8th, 2019

Steelhead repeat spawners, known as kelts, grow quickly with greater blood fat levels soon after their first spawning, a signal that they will repeat spawning in the first year, according to a recent study.

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Researchers Use ‘Fish Body Double’ To Test Screens Providing Safe Downstream Fish Passage At Oregon Irrigation Structures

August 1st, 2019

Irrigation diversions move some water into a canal or pipeline where it can be used for irrigation, but they pose challenges for fish due to changes in water flow, damaged habitats, and blocked migration routes. A specific concern are the millions of fish that could be “entrained” or travel into a harmful environment and outside the natural flow of water because of such structures.

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Study Investigates Reasons For Straying Of Hatchery Fish In Coastal River; Lack Of Unique Odor Cue Cited

July 23rd, 2019

Hatchery females and larger chinook salmon are less likely to return to their hatchery of origin than they are to spawn naturally with wild fish in the Elk Creek basin on the Oregon Coast, even as smaller chinook and males tend to return to the hatchery, according to a recent study.

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Council Recommendations For 48 Fish/Wildlife Projects, $43 Million A Year, Out For Public Review

July 18th, 2019

Some 48 fish and wildlife projects that will cost $43.5 million each year – hatchery work, data management, research -- were reviewed and approved by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee at its meeting this week in Butte, Montana.

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Managing Drought: Oregon Study Says Water Conservation Often Does Not Occur In Right Places At Right Times

July 15th, 2019

In Oregon’s fertile Willamette River Basin, where two-thirds of the state’s population lives, managing water scarcity would be more effective if conservation measures were introduced in advance and upstream from the locations where droughts are likely to cause shortages, according to a new study.

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Study: As Regional Climate Warms, Smallmouth Bass Will Encroach On Much More Salmonid Spawning, Rearing Habitat

July 11th, 2019

Nearly 18,000 river kilometers (11,185 miles) of Columbia River basin streams currently has suitable habitat for an invasive predatory fish that, as climate warms, is a range that is predicted to increase by 10,000 river miles by 2080, according to a recent study.

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Study: Interpretation Of Historical Salmon Abundance Based Solely On Landings (Harvest) Data Unreliable

June 26th, 2019

Oregon has overestimated the historical number of coho salmon that ultimately spawned in coastal streams, according to the conclusions of a recent study, and it is likely that the number of coho spawning in Columbia River basin streams has also been overestimated.

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Salmon Predation Questions: Scientists Say Inevitable Voracious, Invasive Pike Will Move Downstream Of Grand Coulee

May 14th, 2019

Washington tribes and state government first detected the presence of northern pike in Lake Roosevelt, the huge reservoir created by Grand Coulee Dam, in 2007 and have ramped up suppression efforts in the lake since 2014.

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IPBES Report:Species Extinction Accelerating, 33 Percent Of Marine Fish Stocks Overharvested

May 7th, 2019

Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history -- and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely, warns a landmark new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

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Research

Study Shows How Heavy Tropical Rains In Southeast Asia Contribute To California Heat Waves

April 17th, 2019

Heavy rain over the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia and the eastern Pacific Ocean is a good indicator that temperatures in central California will reach 100 degrees in four to 16 days, according to a collaborative research team from the University of California Davis and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Climate Center in Busan, South Korea.

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Climate Change

Report: Ocean Conditions Appear To Be Heading In Right Direction For Improving Salmon-Steelhead Runs

March 15th, 2019

Coastal waters are cooling and attracting higher value, more fat-rich food -- a good sign for salmon, steelhead and ocean predators, such as Orcas -- after several years of unusually warm conditions (2014 – 2016), when the warm water “blob” dominated coastal conditions, according to a report released last week by NOAA Fisheries.

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Climate Change

Columbia Riverkeeper Study Analyzes Toxin Levels In Five Columbia River Fish Species

October 3rd, 2014

Findings from tests of five Columbia River fish species “intended for the dinner table” show alarming levels of heavy metals, toxic flame retardants, cancer-causing PCBs, and endocrine disrupting chemicals, according to results of a Phase 2 study, “Is Your Fish Toxic?”

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