November 2009
MID sees bass as problem, not water
The Modesto Bee
By John Holland
November 29, 2009
Every spring, some of the water that might have gone to farms instead flows down the Tuolumne River to help young salmon get to sea.
And every spring, officials with the Modesto Irrigation District say, striped bass gobble up many of these fish as they swim through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.Efforts to restore lower Mokelumne paying off
The Stockton Record
By Alex Breitler
November 30, 2009
A few miles downstream from Camanche Dam, where the foothills flatten and the green Mokelumne River swims a little lazy, a wild rose blooms on land owned by a grape grower.
The pink blossom is among the most colorful in a 22-acre riparian restoration area at Vino Farms. It offers assurance that the river has, in a few short years, regained some of what it lost over a century of neglect.Fish biologists studying the happy return of wild coho
The Oregonian
By Abby Haight
November 28, 2009
State fisheries officials have captured the record-setting return of wild-born coho salmon to the upper Willamette River on film.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife tells the story of this fall's impressive run of coho over Willamette Falls in an eight-minute video. About 20,000 fish passed the falls, topping the previous high run of 18,000 in 1970.Steelhead runs may return to Calaveras
The Stockton Record
By Alex Breitler
November 28, 2009
Stockton's frequently forgotten Calaveras River could someday host a viable population of steelhead, according to a new federal plan to restore threatened and endangered fish across the Central Valley.
Bringing back the migratory rainbow trout is considered a high priority among the many restoration needs on other streams, says the draft document from the National Marine Fisheries Service.Study looks at sustainable salmon production
The Columbia Basin Bulletin
November 25, 2009
Popular thinking about how to improve food systems for the better often misses the point, according to the results of a three-year global study of salmon production systems.
Rather than pushing for organic or land-based production, or worrying about simple metrics such as "food miles," the study finds that the world can achieve greater environmental benefits by focusing on improvements to key aspects of production and distribution.Website details status of Columbia River Basin
The Columbia Basin Bulletin
November 25, 2009
Finding information about the status of fish and wildlife populations in the Columbia River Basin has just become easier with the release of a new report and website developed by state, federal and tribal fish and wildlife resource managers from throughout the Northwest.
Delta residents vow to plug Delta damming plans
Central Valley Business Times
November 24, 2009
That giant sucking sound just might be Los Angeles water interests trying for a massive water grab from Northern California, contend members of a group opposing the so-called "Two Gates" project in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta.
"We're not environmentalists, we're not ‘cause' people. We work and live here and love the Delta," says Mike Guzzardo, of Discovery Bay, a spokesman for the Save the San Francisco Bay and Delta Foundation. "We don't want the government to steamroll us on an ill-conceived project."Judge likes NW salmon plan but sees legal flaw
The Oakland Tribune
By Tim Fought
November 24, 2009
PORTLAND, Ore.-A federal judge says the government's latest plans for making Columbia Basin dams safer for salmon look good, but a legal flaw could delay his approval.
Judge James Redden said Monday that approving the plans as they stand could make his decision vulnerable on appeal for violating federal procedural rules.Bid to rejuvenate salmon will protect trees near streams
The Sacramento Bee
By Matt Weiser
November 23, 2009
BROWNSVILLE - Little-known Honcut Creek is the one place where imperiled California salmon might be able to make a comeback.
It's also where new logging rules soon will restrict how many trees can be cut on private land along this Feather River tributary, even though there aren't any salmon in its forested reaches.70-year-old scheme could be the future
The Record Searchlight
November 22, 2009
What if the best way to preserve the Sacramento River salmon had already been proposed 70 years ago, but nobody paid any attention?
The collapse in recent years of the Sacramento River fisheries has lent new urgency and ambition to restoration efforts, pushing federal biologists to propose, among other rescue plans, a multimillion-dollar trap-and-truck operation to promote spawning in the rivers above Lake Shasta.Thousands of strange sea creatures discovered
Live Science
By Charles Q. Choi
November 22, 2009
The deep sea is teeming with thousands of species that have never known sunlight, explorers now say.
Revealed via cameras towed deep in the sea, sonar and other technologies, a stunning 17,650 species are now known to thrive in an eternal watery darkness. This menagerie of weird creatures, ranging from crabs to shrimp to worms, somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to roughly 3 miles (5 km) below the ocean waves.San Joaquin River flows stop below Mendota Dam
The Fresno Bee
By Mark Grossi
November 21, 2009
The first revival flows of the San Joaquin River have stopped about 30 miles downstream of Mendota Dam, well short of fully refilling the dried riverbed.
Reconnecting the entire river probably won't happen until next year, but federal officials collected a lot of information from monitoring wells during the seven-week experimental flow that ended Friday.Project tests methods to improve monitoring
The Columbia Basin Bulletin
November 20, 2009
The eternal quest to determine how, and if, habitat restoration actions affect the status of imperiled Columbia River basin salmon is taking wings in three intensively monitored watersheds.
"The past two years have really been the big ramp up," Chris Jordan of NOAA Fisheries' Northwest Fisheries Science Center said of a project that began in 2003 and gained momentum and greater funding as a result of the May 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion.Water surges in Mokelumne River yield more salmon
Lodi News-Sentinel
By Jordan Guinn
November 19, 2009
In early October, East Bay Municipal Utility District sent surges of water from the Camanche Reservoir down the Mokelumne River to coax Chinook salmon from the inner bay or the Delta into the river.
The surges, or pulse flows, have been considered successful as nearly four times the salmon are in the river as this time last year.NOAA releases draft pollock stock assessment
Alaska Report
November 18, 2009
This week NOAA fisheries researchers presented scientific information to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Groundfish Plan Team that will underpin later decisions on harvest levels for Eastern Bering Sea pollock.
The scientific analysis points toward a 2010 allowable biological catch of Eastern Bering Sea pollock that would be similar to the allowable biological catch that was set for 2009 - 815,000 tons.County leaders: fish-stocking pullback stinks
The Union Democrat
By Walt Cook
November 18, 2009
A proposal to eliminate the stocking of non-native fish in several waterways and one reservoir in Tuolumne County to protect endangered amphibians has the county Board of Supervisors riled.
The proposal is the result of environmental groups bringing a lawsuit in 2006 over the California Fish and Game's fish-stocking program. The groups - Pacific Rivers Council and Center for Biological Diversity - said the agency had never completed an environmental impact report for the 100-year-old stocking program.Salmon count up in Oroville area
Oroville Mercury-Register
By Mary Weston
November 16, 2009
The fall Chinook salmon run was up on the Feather River this year, but down on the Sacramento River.
Preliminary data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicates the number of adult fall run Chinook salmon returning to the Coleman National Fish Hatchery on Battle Creek this season is roughly 60 percent of what returned last year.Salmon run bigger this year
Auburn Journal
By Kristine Guerra and Gloria Young
November 17, 2009
The numbers are low by historical standards, but this year's expected 122,000 salmon run on the Sacramento River is promising.
"Any improvement is good news because we're so depleted it's near extinction," Jack Sanchez, president and founder of Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead - or SARSAS - said Monday.Water package lacks clout to reverse Delta's decline
The Sacramento Bee
By Matt Weiser
November 15, 2009
The momentous reform of California's water system signed into law last week is largely toothless where it matters most: Action to reverse the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's environmental decline.
That decline was a key reason for the long fight that led to the reforms. And indeed the new law puts into writing that the Delta's environment is equally important to the enormous water demand straining it. State policy also now requires reducing demand for the Delta's water.North state salmon run plummets again
Redding Record Searchlight
By Ryan Sabalow
November 13, 2009
The all-but-finished fall salmon run at Coleman National Fish Hatchery is down 60 percent from last year's already dismal returns, the latest bad news for the future of the Sacramento River's once-vibrant fish population.
Scott Hamelberg, the hatchery's manager, said Thursday that only 8,000 chinook salmon have returned to the Battle Creek hatchery so far this year, down from 14,000 the year before, one of the lowest-ever returns since the hatchery was built to offset the loss of breeding habitat caused by the Shasta and Keswick dams.