Delta talks going on behind closed doors
Contra Costa Times
By Mike Taugher
September 7, 2010
After three years of intense talks aimed at solving California's water problems, key people have quietly gone behind closed doors to negotiate an agreement in the months before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office, Bay Area News Group has learned.
At stake is the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, already $100 million over budget and far from its goal of completion by the end of the year.
Aqualliance files lawsuit
KHSLTV News
By Linda Watkins-Bennett
September 7, 2010
A Chico water group is accusing the state of failing to protect California's fisheries, by shipping too much North state water ... South.
Aqualliance is one of three agencies that have filed suit against the State Department of Water Resources, and the board that oversees it. Members say the suit is designed to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Sockeye fishing cut off to protect coho
BC Local News
By Jeff Nagel
September 7, 2010
Most commercial fishing of this year's record run of Fraser River sockeye salmon has been halted to conserve much smaller runs of coho salmon and steelhead that could be dangerously weakened by further intensive harvesting.
In a typical year, most sockeye migrate before the coho, but late-run sockeye - which account for three-quarters of the massive 2010 run - come back at the same time, mingled with their scarce relatives.
California salmon disaster continues
World Fishing & Aquaculture
September 6, 2010
US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has extended the disaster for California salmon fishermen due to the low numbers of spawning Chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento River and the subsequent reduction in commercial fishery revenues.
Locke's announcement continues the disaster declaration made in 2008 for the fishery.
FDA considers approving genetically modified salmon
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
September 6, 2010
The Food and Drug Administration is poised to approve the first genetically modified animal for human consumption, a highly anticipated decision that is stirring controversy and could mark a turning point in the way American food is produced.
FDA scientists gave a boost last week to the Massachusetts company that wants federal approval to market a genetically engineered salmon, declaring that the altered salmon is safe to eat and does not pose a threat to the environment.
Salmon on the move
Oroville MR
By Rex Burress
September 5, 2010
Along about the first of September, if you look in the Feather River at the base of the Fish Barrier Dam, you will see the stir of king salmon thrashing in the tumbling water, eager to be on their way to the journey's end.
The ever-flowing waterfall blockage to the salmon's surge is a few hundred yards upriver from the Feather River Nature Center, and the dam is solely designed to guide the fish into the fish ladder - a series of steps charged with fast-flowing water that leads to the hatchery. You can see the salmon through glass panels starting Sept. 15 when the gate is opened.
Low lamprey runs in Columbia worry biologists
The Seattle Times
By Kevin McCullen
September 5, 2010
Columbia River Basin Indian tribes and federal agencies are scurrying to keep time from running out for an ecologically and culturally important prehistoric fish species.
This year's run of Pacific lamprey is among the lowest ever recorded at Bonneville Dam. That continues a steady annual decline in the number of the eel-shaped parasitic fish returning from the ocean to spawn.
Conservationists work to remove trout barrier
Victoria Advocate
September 4, 2010
Just north of Triangle X Ranch and a few miles down a gravel road, a 13-foot-tall, 125-foot-long concrete and metal dam rises from Spread Creek's cobbles. Located just outside Grand Teton National Park and surrounded by national forest, it seems a monstrosity - out of place with the surrounding environment.
The structure is clearly crumbling. Four decades' worth of water has scoured holes in the dam's concrete apron large enough for a tree trunk, or a person, to fit through. The closed metal floodgates leak water through the spillway, and the rickety metal walkway and railing have begun to rust.
Dozens of chinook reach Issaquah Salmon Hatchery
Issaquah Press
September 4, 2010
Rains and cooler temperatures prompted dozens of mighty chinook salmon to return to the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery to spawn.
Hatchery workers opened the fish ladder Sept. 3 to start collecting salmon for the spawning season.
Where dams once stood, prospectors spur anger
New York Times
By Felicity Barringer
September 3, 2010
When four dams on the Rogue River here were scheduled for removal, environmentalists predicted many benefits: more salmon and steelhead swimming upriver to spawn; more gravel carried downriver to replenish the riverbed; more rafters bobbing along 57 miles of newly opened water.
What they did not bargain for was the arrival this summer of a clutch of people, eager to sift through the tons of gravel for flakes of gold once hidden behind the dams.