Another water project could divide the state
The Los Angeles Times
By Bettina Boxall
March 9, 2010
Reporting from Orange Cove, Calif. - Harvey Bailey was 11 when Friant Dam started spitting the San Joaquin River into an irrigation canal the size of a freeway.
His father and other growers laid bets on when the river's cool waters would reach their little farm town on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, promising an end to the region's irrigation woes. Life magazine published a big photo spread on the canal's opening.
Sea lions to be killed to save salmon
The San Francisco Chronicle
By Abby Haight
March 9, 2010
Wildlife officials have tried everything to keep sea lions from eating endangered salmon, dropping bombs that explode underwater and firing rubber bullets and bean bags from shotguns and boats. Now they are resorting to issuing death sentences to the most chronic offenders.
A California sea lion last week became the first salmon predator to be euthanized this year under a program that has been denounced by those who say there are far greater dangers to salmon - including the series of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River.
El Nino may affect West Coast fisheries
United Press International
March 8, 2010
U.S. scientists say better satellite tracking shows the El Nino affecting the northern Pacific Ocean is reducing marine life and the number of seabirds.
Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography say a stronger-than-normal northward movement of warm water up the Southern California coast, along with a high sea-level in January and low abundances of plankton and pelagic fish, all are conditions consistent with El Nino.
Salmon net pen may mean more catches for anglers
Seattle Times
By Mark Yuasa
March 6, 2010
The Central Puget Sound area could see a boost in catches by the 2011 fall fishing season, thanks to the revival of a tribal salmon net pen operation in Agate Pass.
"It is good news to get this net pen back in operation, and it will offer a good fishing opportunity in the future for the tribe and other fishermen," said Jay Zischke, the Suquamish Tribe's marine fish manager.
One wet year does not a drought-buster make
Tracy Press
By Jon Mendelson
March 6, 2010
With storms sweeping through Northern California every few days, there's a question on water-watchers' lips: Is the drought over?
As with most things bearing monetary and political implications, it depends on who you ask.
NOAA proposes fish passage operations shift
The Columbia Basin Bulletin
March 5, 2010
NOAA Fisheries Service says that in low-flow years, such as 2010 is almost certain to be, a shutting off of spring spill for fish passage at lower Snake River "collector" dams and a shift to "maximum" transportation would result in greater steelhead and spring/summer chinook salmon returns a few years down the road.
The agency on Wednesday previewed its proposal to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers end spring spill on about May 1 and focus on the collection of as many juvenile outmigrants as possible for transport down through the federal Columbia-Snake river hydro system aboard barges.
Klamath water deal aces first big test
OBP News
By Rob Manning
March 4, 2010
Farmers and environmentalists signed a deal just weeks ago to manage the Klamath basin's water. Now the agreement faces its first big test.
State officials say water levels in Klamath Lake and the nearby rivers are nearly 30 percent below normal. That means there's unlikely to be enough water for both endangered fish and irrigated farmland.
Black market caviar tempts poachers
KATU News
By Dan Tilkin
March 4, 2010
Giant sturgeon have been so over fished overseas for their coveted black eggs that pressure is now mounting on Columbia River sturgeon.
Poachers here are trying to fill the demand for premium caviar and they are using the Columbia River as their hunting ground.
So far, snow good
The San Francisco Chronicle
By Peter Fimrite
March 4, 2010
Californians are experiencing a unique kind of drought - one in which there appears to be plenty of water to squirt around.
Repeated deluges have replenished many reservoirs and blanketed the Sierra with snow, ensuring that there will be at least an average amount of runoff in the spring.
And the state's third monthly survey of snow in the Sierra showed Wednesday that the water content of the snowpack is 107 percent of average statewide for this time of year. Last year at this time, it was just 80 percent of average.
B.C. brings fish farming sea lice data out into open
Digital Journal
By Stephanie Dearing
March 3, 2010
British Columbia - Environmental groups have been trying to obtain information about sea lice and farmed salmon from the government for years, but the government has steadfastly denied those requests. Now that the Commissioner has said the information must be made available to the public, salmon farming advocate Mary Ellen Walling, who heads up the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, is concerned that environmentalists will use the data "... to mislead the public rather than describe the pattern of successful management of sea lice."
