June 2009
Farmers angry over water restrictions
KGO News
By Mark Matthews
June 29, 2009
The farmers say they're being cut off from water supplies by federal regulations protecting endangered species like Chinook salmon.
A couple of hundred farmers and farm workers marched in front of the Federal Building shouting "turn on the pumps." The pumps they're talking about are the ones that pump water from the Sacramento River Delta to farmlands in the Central San Joaquin Valley.
Saving species no longer a beauty contest
Washington Post
By David A. Fahrenthold
June 29, 2009
Are we ready to start saving ugly species?
When it began compiling lists of threatened and endangered animals and plants more than 35 years ago, the U.S. government gave itself the same mandate as Noah's Ark: Save everything.
But in practice, the effort has often worked more like a velvet-rope nightclub: Glamour rules.
The furry, the feathered, the famous and the edible have dominated government funding for protected species, to the point that one subpopulation of threatened salmon gets more money than 956 other plants and animals combined.
Salazar assigns deputy as Calif. water czar
San Jose Mercury News
By Tracie Cone
June 28, 2009
FRESNO, Calif.-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Sunday announced several steps he hoped would ease the toll of the state's water shortage on farmers, and said he would assign a top deputy to help find solutions.
At a spirited town hall meeting in California's agricultural heartland, Salazar told a packed auditorium that Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes will "bring all of the key federal agencies to the table" to coordinate efforts.
Report details west coast research needs
The Columbia Basin Bulletin
June 26, 2009
The West Coast critically needs more research about fisheries, ocean health, coastal hazards and climate change -- among other topics -- according to a new report on regional marine research and information needs.
The report was produced by Oregon Sea Grant under a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is available online at: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/research/RegionalPlanning
State declares longfin smelt a threatened species
The Sacramento Bee
By Matt Weiser
June 25, 2009
The longfin smelt today was declared a threatened species in California, officially adding another imperiled fish to the long list of problems affecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The California Fish and Game Commission in March declared there was enough evidence to protect the longfin under the state Endangered Species Act. That kicked off a review period, which concluded today with a formal vote by the commission to list the fish as threatened.
Smolt count brings smiles
St Helena Star
By Bill Ryan
June 25, 2009
Yes, A River Runs Through It. In this case it is our own river running through our own valley. Makes us pretty special, doesn't it?
By now, you know that there are many initiatives up and running to restore the Napa River to its former natural state. Years ago, many thousands of wild fish returned every year to spawn and rest here.
El Nino could signal drought's end
North County Times
By Dave Downey
June 24, 2009
Just as residents of San Diego and Riverside counties start adjusting to life with lawn-watering restrictions, there are signs California's drought may be coming to an end next winter.
Climate scientists say conditions are ripe for the formation of an El Nino over the Pacific Ocean, an intermittent weather condition that brings wet winters to the southern United States.
Drought prompts Calif visit by US Interior chief
San Jose Mercury News
By Tracie Cone
June 24, 2009
MENDOTA, Calif.-U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday he will hold hearings in California on the prolonged drought that has turned fields into dust bowls and resulted in a spike in rural crime, high unemployment and low property values.
Salazar's visit to Fresno Sunday underscores the dire situation farmers, businesses and residents face as the nation's most productive agricultural state struggles through the third year of drought, compounded by cutbacks in water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect endangered fish.
Sockeye salmon runs looking up on the Fraser River
The Vancouver Sun
By Larry Pynn
June 23, 2009
After two low years of salmon runs, the federal fisheries department is predicting improved sockeye returns to the Fraser River this summer.
All sectors - commercial, sport and aboriginal - are expected to participate in the fishery, based on a projected return of between six and 10.6 million sockeye, the wide difference explained by the unknown impact of ocean survival, said Jeff Grout, federal salmon resource manager.
Colder ocean water was good for salmon last year
The Seattle Times
By Mark Yuasa
June 23, 2009
Like most of the waters off the West Coast, the Pacific Ocean off British Columbia was super salmon-friendly last year, according to a new report by Canada's Department of Fish and Oceans.
In fact, these waters were the coldest of the past 50 years.
The report said phytoplankton and zooplankton concentrations were the highest over the latest decade of collecting data across the Gulf of Alaska.
Restoring fisheries above dams faces high hurdles
The Sacramento Bee
By Matt Weiser
June 22, 2009
The American River once hosted thousands of steelhead migrating upstream from the ocean in three separate runs. Today it's down to just two runs of a few hundred fish.
The Sacramento was the only river in western North America with four salmon runs. They numbered in the millions - so numerous that American Indians and settlers could catch a salmon dinner with their bare hands. Now one run is gone, and two are endangered. The fourth could join them soon.
Hatchery fish may hurt efforts to sustain wild runs
South Lincoln County News
By David Stauth
June 23, 2009
Steelhead trout that are originally bred in hatcheries are so genetically impaired that, even if they survive and reproduce in the wild, their offspring will also be significantly less successful at reproducing, according to a new study published today by researchers from Oregon State University.
The poor reproductive fitness - the ability to survive and reproduce - of the wild-born offspring of hatchery fish means that adding hatchery fish to wild populations may ultimately be hurting efforts to sustain those wild runs, scientists said.
Water district sues feds over Stanislaus rules
The Stockton Record
By Alex Breitler
June 20, 2009
STOCKTON - Concerned over what may be a "drastic" reduction in this region's water supply, the Stockton East Water District filed suit Friday against the federal government challenging new rules to protect fish.
The lawsuit alleges that the rules, published by the National Marine Fisheries Service on June 4, are in violation of the Endangered Species Act because they do not rely on the best available science.
Is ocean's acidity killing sea life?
Seattle Times
By Craig Welch
June 21, 2009
The collapse began rather unspectacularly.
In 2005, when most of the millions of Pacific oysters in this tree-lined estuary failed to reproduce, Washington's shellfish growers largely shrugged it off.
In a region that provides one-sixth of the nation's oysters -- the epicenter of the West Coast's $111 million oyster industry -- everyone knows nature can be fickle.
Alaska's salmon scarce as ocean currents shift
The Anchorage Daily News
By Craig Medred
June 20, 2009
A second straight year of weak king salmon returns around the rim of the Gulf of Alaska has state fisheries biologists wondering if they might be staring into the face of a bleak future.
Troubling discussions of PDO -- an acronym for something called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation -- have been spreading coast-wide as kings come back weak in river after river. Historically, there are indications that geographically widespread weakness like these are tied to a shift, or oscillation, in Pacific Ocean currents that causes cooler waters to pool in the Gulf of Alaska.
Regional impacts of global climate change
The Columbia Basin Bulletin
June 19, 2009
Climate change is already having visible impacts in the United States, and choices made now will determine the severity of its impacts in the future, according to a new federal study assessing the current and anticipated domestic impacts of climate change.
The report, "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States," compiles years of scientific research and takes into account new data not available during the preparation of previous large national and global assessments.
Sick sea lions present a mystery
The San Francisco Chronicle
By Jane Kay
June 19, 2009
Fluctuating ocean conditions may be depleting the food supply of young sea lions that are turning up skinny and ill on California beaches, mirroring the fate of Brandt's cormorants earlier this spring.
The animal strandings are so numerous that the newly expanded Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito can't keep up. Only those young sea lions most in need of help are being brought in for treatment - up to 20 a day - leaving others to try to make it on their own, center representatives say.
Study, differences between mussels
The Columbia Basin Bulletin
June 19, 2009
The zebra mussels that have wreaked ecological havoc on the Great Lakes are harder to find these days -- not because they are dying off, but because they are being replaced by a cousin, the quagga mussel. But zebra mussels still dominate in fast-moving streams and rivers.
Research conducted by Suzanne Peyer, a doctoral candidate in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Zoology, shows that physiological differences between the two species might determine which mollusk dominates in either calm or fast-moving waters.
Babysitter assigned to whale basking in marina
San Jose Mercury News
By Michelle Rindels
June 18, 2009
LOS ANGELES-A whale that has spent the last three weeks in Marina del Rey is getting extra attention from a babysitter dispatched by the National Marine Fisheries Service to watch out for the yearling.
A fisheries agent was tasked this week with protecting the gray whale from curious onlookers and watching for signs of weakness that may prompt human intervention.
Lawmakers lose House vote on irrigation water
The Fresno Bee
June 18, 2009
By Michael Doyle
WASHINGTON - Central Valley lawmakers this week briefly summoned House attention to the region's water shortages, challenging the environmental rules that have curtailed irrigation deliveries.
Legislatively, the Valley lawmakers failed. By a 208-218 vote Thursday afternoon, the House rejected an amendment by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, that would have blocked a federal decision steering more irrigation water into fish habitat protection.