Agencies' report warns of faster climate change

Los Angeles Times
By Juliet Eilperin
December 26, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- The United States faces the possibility of much more rapid climate change by the end of the century than previous studies have suggested, according to a report led by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Is this picture in danger of disappearing?

The Daily Astorian
By Michael Burkett
December 26, 2008

The EPA warns that climate change threatens Oregon's cold-water fish populations

Imagining California without sunshine, Wisconsin without cheese and Idaho without potatoes is no doubt a whole lot easier for Oregonians than conjuring an image of their home state without salmon, steelhead or trout.

Yet, that's exactly the picture broadcast 'round the world by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's report on global warming, which contains some dire predictions for Oregon's time-honored reputation as a Mecca for coldwater fishermen.

Environmental concerns halt state's trout stocking

Contra Costa Times
By Paul Thissen
December 26, 2008

The foot-long rainbow trout tumble out of the truck through a translucent tube, flying momentarily through the air before falling into the Lafayette Reservoir.

This used to be a weekly ritual at the reservoir, but now it only happens every other week. Elsewhere in the state it has stopped entirely. The state is no longer stocking Lake Refugio in Hercules.

A lawsuit by environmental groups has prevented the California Department of Fish and Game, which used to stock half the fish into the Lafayette Reservoir, from planting any fish. Now the only fish stocks come from the private Mount Lassen Trout Farm.

Sierra Warming: Later snow, earlier melt: High anxiety

Sacramento Bee
By Tom Knudson
December 26, 2008

LAKE TAHOE - Finally, snow.

After weeks of waiting, mountain residents awoke to their first glimpse of winter on Dec. 13, a few fluffy inches of powder that clung to the tops of boulders like chefs' hats.

More fell over the past two weeks, enough to bury the camel-colored meadow grass and wine-red willows in a deepening blanket of white. The magic, though, came late, just days before Christmas - one of the tardiest winter debuts ever.

Big impact for little fish on California's water outlook

Capital Press
December 24, 2008

Like the famed snail darter, which in 1973 derailed construction of a Tennessee Valley Authority dam, the tiny delta smelt has thrown California's cooperative state and federal water projects into disarray.

Tellico didn't happen. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld snail darter conservation as more important than building another TVA dam.

Unlike the TVA's proposed Tellico dam, California's massive north-to-south water export has been operating for 41 years.

Restrictions Increase Uncertainty Over Delta Water

Patterson Irrigator
By John Saiz
December 24, 2008

To read the 400-page report on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's new restrictions to protect the Delta smelt, go to www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/documents/SWP-CVP_OPs_BO_12-15_final_OCR.pdf

Federal rules issued last week could further limit the state's scarce water supply to protect an endangered fish unique to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Local water officials say the new restrictions - issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in response to the declining population of a tiny fish called the Delta smelt - aren't likely to have a major impact on their water supplies. But they add to the increasing uncertainty farmers must deal with.

Delta issues hold key to future water supply reliability

California Farm Bureau Federation
By Kate Campbell
December 24, 2008

Three key developments involving the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in the past week set environmental parameters for protecting delta species and laid the foundation for addressing the region's environmental problems and the future reliability of the state's water supply.

Experts say drought conditions, court decisions and a collapsing ecosystem have turned up the heat on finding solutions to these problems, elevating the importance of solid planning and prompt action.

Delta dilemma

The San Francisco Chronicle
December 22, 2008

Stepping in where the state of California has feared to tread, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a new set of rules designed to protect the endangered delta smelt in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The new rules represent the fish's last chance for survival, and a last-ditch chance at preserving the Delta's collapsing water quality. But they will come at a high cost - the ruling will result in reduced water pumping out of the delta, and that means less water for the farmers and urban areas that have come to depend on it.

My View: Many Delta regulations miss the mark

The Sacramento Bee
By Laura King Moon
December 21, 2008

Every day, Sacramento's wastewater treatment plant sends 13 tons of ammonia downstream to the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, potentially disturbing the Delta's food web in profound and destructive ways. Agricultural runoff flows freely through the estuary's waters. Exotic species of clams consume much of the critical food supply. Nonnative fish prey on native smelt and salmon.

Robust run expected for Columbia River spring chinook

The Seattle Times
By Mark Yuasa
December 21, 2008

Today may be the first day of winter, but many salmon anglers are already looking forward to spring and what may be another decent fishing season. The early outlook for next year's Columbia River spring chinook return has 298,900 fish expected to migrate above Bonneville Dam...

Higher fuel prices notwithstanding, fisheries did well in 2008

Alaska Journal of Commerce
By Margaret Bauman
December 21, 2008

Alaska's lucrative seafood industry appears to have done very well overall in 2008, despite the increased cost of doing business, with sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Veteran commercial fisherman and seafood industry analyst Chris McDowell said he expected the total value paid to harvesters for all seafood taken in Alaska to be around the five-year average of $1.4 billion, down slightly from $1.6 billion in 2007. Part of that decline was driven by pollock prices, he said, but "we had a pretty decent year overall," he said.

Ocean conditions in Oregon among best for fish in 50 years

The Los Angeles Times
By Kelly Burgess
December 19, 2008

Ocean conditions for many fish species in the Pacific Northwest, including chinook salmon, were greatly improved in 2008 because of a huge cold-water influx that settled in across much of the Pacific Ocean.

Scientists who surveyed coastal waters from Newport, Ore., to LaPush, Wash., found the highest numbers of juvenile chinook salmon this year than they have seen in the 11 years that sampling has been done, which suggests that the Northwest could see a salmon boon once these fish mature and migrate back to their home rivers.

Willamette spring chinook fishery on horizon

The Oregonian
By Bill Monroe
December 19, 2008

The early Christmas present could not have been more timely.

Steve Williams, deputy fish division administrator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, delivered it -- confirmation of spring chinook fishing on the Willamette -- Wednesday afternoon during the annual preliminary salmon run update to sportfishing industry representatives.

"There will be some opportunity for a spring chinook fishery in the Willamette River," he said at the department's regional office in Clackamas.

The news cheered an industry facing almost certain layoffs and bankruptcies directly related to the region's raging fish controversies.

Near-Shore Survey Suggests 2008 Ocean Conditions For Fish One Of The Best On Record

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
December 19, 2008

Ocean conditions during 2008 for many fish species in the Pacific Northwest, including chinook salmon, were greatly improved because of a huge cold water influx that settled in across much of the northern Pacific Ocean -- a phenomenon not seen on this scale in years.

In fact, scientists who surveyed near-shore waters from Newport, Ore., to LaPush, Wash., this year found the highest numbers of juvenile chinook salmon they've encountered in 11 years of sampling.

The reason may be traced to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a pattern of climate variability that historically has shifted between warm (positive) and cool (negative) regimes over cycles of 20 to 30 years. During 2008, the PDO was the most negative it has been since 1955, according to Bill Peterson, a NOAA fisheries biologist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center.

New Study Details How Ocean Fish Farming Harms Wild Salmon

The Columbia basin Bulletin
December 19, 2008

Farming of fish in ocean cages is fundamentally harmful to wild fish, according to an essay in this week's Conservation Biology.

Using basic physics, professor Neil Frazer of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa explains how farm fish cause nearby wild fish to decline. The foundation of his paper is that higher density of fish promotes infection, and infection lowers the fitness of the fish.

For wild fish, lowered fitness means more difficulty finding food and escaping predators, causing higher death rates. But farmed fish are not only fed, they are also protected from predators by their cage, so infected farm fish live on, shedding pathogen into the water. The higher levels of pathogen in the water cause the death rates of wild fish to rise.

Reclamation's 5-Year Study Concludes Large, New Reservoir in Yakima Basin Not Justified

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
December 19, 2008

A five-year investigation of potential alternatives for increasing Yakima River basin water supplies -- which included the potential creation of a huge, billion-dollar reservoir in central Washington's Black Rock Canyon -- has concluded that no action is the best action.

"None of the alternatives adequately met the criteria or were economically justified. Additionally, they could not provide adequate fishery benefits to be considered the preferred alternative," said Gerald Kelso, manager of the Bureau of Reclamation's Upper Columbia Area Office.

The study cost an estimated $18 million. Funding has been provided by the state under a Memorandum of Agreement for Cost Sharing with the Bureau and by congressional appropriations.

Oregon Surprises Washington On Catch-Sharing Plan; 'Meeting Of The Minds' Necessary

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
December 19, 2008

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission on Saturday deferred action on the allocation of Columbia River spring chinook salmon between sport and commercial fisheries pending further discussions with Oregon officials.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission had on Friday adopted a plan that would give commercial fishers a larger share of the harvest than was recommended by a bi-state panel created by the states to develop a joint approach to the controversial catch-sharing issue. Oregon and Washington co-manage fisheries on the mainstem Columbia where the river is the states' shared border.

The two commissions had held a joint meeting Dec. 11 to discuss a spring and summer chinook sharing scheme developed by the Columbia River Fish Working Group. The panel was established by the commissions at summer's end to help develop an allocation policy that could be adopted by each of the commissions.

States still hashing out spring chinook policy

The News Tribune
By Allen Thomas
December 18, 2008

Yet again, Washington and Oregon are at odds over how to split the catch of the Columbia River's highly prized spring chinook salmon between sportsmen and gillnetters.
Last week, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission postponed for a month adopting a spring salmon allocation policy, with several members blasting Oregon for deviating from a compromise deal reached in November.

Spring chinook are the glory fish of the Columbia, fueling a huge sport fishery in March and April that brings thousands of anglers a day to the river. Spring salmon also fetch the netters' fleet $10 a pound when the fish are caught early in the run.

The two states have had their allocation differences for years. Washington tends to favor shifting more of the harvest to sportsmen, while Oregon opts to remain closer to the status quo, with a more even split.

State must boost water storage

Contra Costa Times
December 18, 2008

THE TIME MAY be coming, if it is not already here, when decision-makers in Sacramento finally understand that California must store a lot more water in reservoirs or lose much of its agriculture.

That message was delivered Monday by federal regulators, who placed severe restrictions on pumping water out of the Delta. The new rules in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit will require more freshwater to be released into the Delta and a lot less water to be pumped out of the estuary.

U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that the old pumping permit was highly flawed because it did not do enough to protect fish like the Delta smelt. Other species of fish in the Delta also are endangered and could face extinction without major cutbacks in water pumping.

Accept reality of limits in Delta

The Sacramento Bee
December 17, 2008

California is on the cusp of crucial decisions about its water future. Plans for new reservoirs and canals are gaining traction, pushed by interests that have the most to lose from court decisions and possible droughts.

Before the state plunges feet-first into a new generation of water works, though, it must recognize the limits of its hydrological heart - the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

For far too long, California has treated the Delta and its vast watershed as a resource to be tapped and exploited.

Excessive pumping and diversions, from all parts of the vast watershed, have hurt fish and other wildlife. Excessive conversion of wetlands has turned the Delta into a mono-culture of sinking islands, vulnerable to floods and earthquakes. Excessive pollution has made the Delta a filthy place to draw drinking water.