Call for changes to Columbia River salmon hatcheries

The Seattle Times
By Hal Bernton
March 28, 2009

In a report released Friday to Congress, biologists called for big changes in the sprawling Columbia River hatcheries so the operations support, not hinder, the massive regional effort to restore natural salmon runs.

The hatchery system encompasses 178 different programs run by state, federal and tribal operators, and it has soaked up billions of taxpayer dollars in recent decades as many of the major wild runs have gained protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Salmon proposals to restrict Columbia gillnetting

Statesman Journal
March 28, 2009

The brouhaha over Columbia River spring-run Chinook salmon has been joined in the Oregon Legislature.

More than 200 people - almost everyone in the lobby overflow area watching on TV monitors sporting orange CCA (Coastal Conservation Association) ballcaps - turned out for an informational session to hear about a half-dozen bills dealing with commercial gillnetting in front of the members of the House Committee on Sustainability and Economic Development.

Another look at critical habitat for bull trout

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
March 27, 2009

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it will rework its September 2005 critical habitat designation for threatened Columbia and Klamath river bull trout stocks.

A lawsuit challenging the legality of the designation was filed in U.S. District Court in Portland in January 2006. The lawsuit was briefed over the next year and oral arguments were heard in April 2007. No decision has been issued.

Columbia River coastal cutthroat proposed listing

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
March 27, 2009

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday officially reopened for additional public comment its 1999 proposal to list southwestern Washington/Columbia River coastal cutthroat trout as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The agency withdrew its listing proposal from consideration in 2002, but as a result of litigation is now reconsidering the withdrawal by examining whether the ocean and estuaries constitute a significant portion of the range of the "designated population segment."

Carbonated oceans

Science Daily
March 27, 2009

Like a sinkful of hard water deposits suddenly doused with vinegar, the shells of tiny marine snails in Victoria Fabry's test tanks don't stand a chance.

Fabry, a biological oceanographer and visiting researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, studies the effects of ocean acidification on the molluscs known as pteropods. In one experiment, only 48 hours of exposure to slightly corrosive seawater caused normally smooth shells to become frayed at the edges on their way to eventual dissolution, severely diminishing their owners' chances of survival.

Fish and Game expects best salmon return

The Idaho Statesman
By Roger Phillips
March 26, 2009

Idaho Fish and Game added 25 miles of additional water upstream from Riggins, which will open later, and tweaked downstream boundaries for salmon fishing to allow fishing 200 yards downstream from the Hammer Creek boat ramp.

Seasons will open May 23 on the Lochsa River, and June 20 on the Lower Salmon River from Shorts Creek upstream about 25 miles to the boat ramp at Vinegar Creek.

Plan to restore San Joaquin River approved

The San Francisco Chronicle
By Kelly Zito
March 26, 2009

In one of the boldest river restorations in the Western United States, a 63-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River will be transformed from a dusty ditch into a fish-friendly waterway under legislation approved Wednesday that ends a decades-long dispute between farmers and environmentalists.

The $400 million project, approved by Congress as part of a landmark wilderness bill, will increase the amount of water released from the Friant Dam near Fresno into the San Joaquin River. The flows are intended to resurrect the river's salmon fishery, decimated in the years following the dam's construction in 1942.

Impact of fish stocking on aquatic insects

EurekAlert
March 26, 2009

The impact fish stocking has on aquatic insects in mountain lakes can be rapidly reversed by removing non-native trout, according to a study completed by U.S. Forest Service and University of California, Davis, scientists.

Their findings appear in a current online issue of the journal Freshwater Biology where they describe experiments that examined some effects of fisheries management practices now in use in California mountain lakes where fish do not naturally occur.

Flood of comments at peripheral canal meeting

The Stockton Record
By Alex Breitler
March 25, 2009

STOCKTON - Same issue, same building, different decade.

About 120 people gathered Tuesday night at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium for a chance to vent to the powers that be over plans to build a peripheral canal.

Fifteen years ago, some of the same folks met in the same auditorium as part of the CALFED process, which was supposed to fix the ailing Delta but today is viewed by many as a failure.

Allocations show severe water shortages will remain

California Farm Bureau Federation
By Kate Campbell
March 25, 2009

Although the state's water supply outlook has improved slightly, farmers in many parts of California learned last week that they still face severe water shortages, as both federal and state water projects issued updated supply allocation estimates for the 2009 crop year.

The state Department of Water Resources said recent winter storms increased the Sierra snowpack to near 90 percent of average.

Planning process is concerning

The Northern View
By Brooke Ward
March 24, 2009

The pronounced need for proper marine use planning is more or less unanimous across the various marine industries and amongst coastal residents, but several aspects of the current PNCIMA (Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area) process, led by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, are creating serious concerns for local politicians - not the least of which is the lack of provincial government involvement.

"That is a major concern," said North Coast MLA Gary Coons before boarding a flight to Vancouver on Sunday to participate in this week's two-day forum on the matter in Richmond.

Water board addresses Klamath River impairments

Siskiyou Daily News
By David Smith
March 24, 2009

"The Klamath River, from source to mouth, is listed as water quality impaired (by both Oregon and California) under Section 303 (d) of the Federal Clean Water Act.

"In 1992 the California State Water Quality Control Board (SWQCB) proposed that the Klamath River be listed for both temperature and nutrients, requiring the development of total maximum daily load (TMDL) limits and implementation plans.

Hopes rise for salmon success

The Stockton Record
By Alex Breitler
March 23, 2009

THE STANISLAUS RIVER - The future of California's venerable king salmon rests between Scott Wucherer's thumb and forefinger as he measures its length - 31 millimeters. A whole 1.2 inches.

A few more pokes and prods and the technician returns the helpless Chinook fry to the river, where it is whisked away by the current. If it is lucky, the fish will return in three years as a 30-pound adult, to spawn and to die.

State water supply vulnerable to quakes, floods

The San Francisco Chronicle
By Kelly Zito
March 21, 2009

Earthquakes and severe storms could destroy hundreds of miles of mostly earthen levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in coming decades, according to a state report that provides the most detail yet on the vulnerabilities of the hub of California's water system.

Among the findings in the 1,000-page report released Friday by the Department of Water Resources: There is a 40 percent chance that a major earthquake will flood 27 delta islands between now and 2030, costing billions in repairs and knocking out the water source for 25 million Californians for more than a year.

Alaska's 2009 salmon forecast 11th largest

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
March 20, 2009

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game this week announced that the statewide commercial salmon harvest in 2009 is projected to total 174.8 million salmon of all species. This is an increase compared to 2008, with nearly all of this increase expected to come from improved pink salmon catches.

Overall, pink and chum salmon harvests are expected to be higher than in 2008, while the chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon harvests are expected to be similar to the actual harvests taken in 2008.

Ocean 'indicators' help develop forecasts

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
March 20, 2009

All of the signs -- called ocean indicators -- point toward swelled returns to the Columbia River basin in 2010 and 2011 that could even challenge 2001's record upriver spring chinook salmon run, according to ongoing research conducted by NOAA Fisheries Service's Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

"The ocean was chockfull of food" in 2008 when juvenile salmon emerged from the Columbia to start their ocean sojourn, the center's John Ferguson told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week.

Hastings wary of Snake River Salmon PAC

Tri-City Herald
March 20, 2009

Congressman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., says the newly formed political action committee, Snake River Salmon Society, is a "well-funded, well-coordinated campaign aimed at destroying the four Snake River dams."

Hastings said he supports the First Amendment rights of PACs, but believes citizens of the Northwest overwhelmingly oppose tearing out the dams.

Canal wins few converts in Delta

The Stockton Record
By Alex Breitler
March 19, 2009

STOCKTON - Where's the water?

County water leaders peppered peripheral canal proponents with questions and a few pointed comments Wednesday, saying there's not enough water to maintain high exports to two-thirds of California while also saving the Delta.

That's precisely what the roughly $10 billion Bay-Delta Conservation Plan proposes to do: find a balance between water supply and ecosystem, in part by building a canal, plan spokeswoman Karla Nemeth told a feisty group of water commissioners.

Sacramento River's chinook face double whammy

The San Francisco Chronicle
By Jane Kay
March 19, 2009

Sacramento River's prized chinook salmon suffered a one-two punch from poor conditions in the ocean and the river, leading to the sudden collapse of the fall run, according to a study released Wednesday.

Years of losing habitat to water diversions and storage in the Central Valley so weakened the fall run that it couldn't withstand two recent years of scanty food supply in the warming Pacific Ocean, said the study by federal, state and academic scientists.

Trout seeking cooler waters can be poisoned

American Fisheries Society
By Gus Rassom
March 19, 2009

When faced with a choice between warmer stream temperatures and low metal exposures or cooler temperatures but increased metal levels in water, trout head toward cooler, more contaminated waters, according to an article in the April 2009 issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Trout generally avoid waters containing metals, which have a range of effects on their abundance and health, as noted in the article, "Trout Density and Health in a Stream with Variable Water Temperatures and Trace Element Concentrations: Does a Cold-Water Source Attract Trout to Increased Metal Exposure?" by David D. Harper, Aida M. Farag, Christer Hogstrand, and Elizabeth MacConnell.