Protest in Victoria and Vancouver Is over Farmed Salmon

Posted on June 29, 2010 by Al Bergstein

As we work to restore wild salmon runs here on the Peninsula, a large protest against farmed salmon took place between April and June in BC. Led by wild salmon activist Alexandra Morton, she and thousands of other citizens marched the length of Vancouver Island to protest for an end to net pen salmon farming in BC waterways. The goal, to move these to land based farms, is gaining traction in BC.

This issue is important because of threats of net pen aquaculture both here in Jefferson and Clallam Counties. Rumors of native plans to institute net pen aquaculture continue to float around the Peninsula. The recently passed Jefferson County SMP did what it could to ban net pens from the waters, and force them upland. There is still a great deal of controversy over even upland pens, due to sewage runoff from the fish. 

To see what has been happening in BC, take a quick look at the following short video of the project.

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Salmon fishing seasons set, and outlook will mirror last year for the most part – Seattle Times

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Al Bergstein

4/15 Seattle Times-Mark Yuasa

The Pacific Fishery Management Council meetings ended Thursday in Portland, Ore., and the 2010-11 sport salmon fishing seasons will pretty much look like year’s although anglers won’t have the pink fishery since they return during odd-numbered years only.

Last year, marked the historic expansion of selective fishing for healthy stocks of hatchery-marked salmon (those with a missing adipose fin) in Puget Sound while protecting and releasing poor wild fish returns some of which are listed on the Endangered Species Act.

More worth reading at the following link…good summary of the salmon return and the fishing goals.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/reeltimenorthwest/2011618706_salmon_fishing_seasons_set_and.html

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Local orcas’ favorite meal: B.C. chinook – Seattle Times

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Al Bergstein

Really good article, worth reading the whole thing. Some debate as to whether this has been historically true or not, (I’ve heard doubters say that they saw Orcas feeding off other runs than Chinook in the past), but this is good solid science showing that the whole “Salish Sea” basin (includes Canadian waters) along with the rivers feeding them (like the Fraser) is incredibly important to the continued health of the Orca populations. The article points out that they may be eating the Frasier chinook for a variety of reasons, including their abundance and size, so it is likely that they might have eaten other species of salmon in years gone by. Working cooperatively with the Canadians is more imporant than ever, and from what I’ve seen in east Vancouver, they are losing salmon habitat fast there with the suburbs.

4/14 Seattle Times
Local orcas’ favorite meal: B.C. chinook
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

While here at home in their summer range, Puget Sound’s endangered orca whales dine almost exclusively on salmon from Canada, scientists have learned, underscoring the connected nature of the Salish Sea ecosystem.

During the summers of 2004-08, scientists tracked the J, K and L pods of orcas (also known as killer whales) in the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and San Juan Islands, to learn what they were eating and analyze where their food came from. No easy task, the work involved following the orcas in small boats and gathering killer-whale excrement and regurgitation, fish scales and other tissue with a fine mesh net after the whales ate.

Examination of the material, including DNA testing, revealed that the orcas select chinook salmon nearly exclusively for food, despite far more abundant numbers of pink and sockeye in the area at the same time.

More at
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011609220_orca15m.html

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State on the hook for $768 for every salmon caught in Puget Sound – Seattle Times

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Al Bergstein

Wow….and the costs just keep rising… are we winning? Or losing? Are there options?

4/10 Seattle Times
State on the hook for $768 for every salmon caught in Puget Sound
By Craig Welch
Seattle Times environment reporter

Puget Sound’s popular blackmouth fishery ” made possible by a complex system of hatcheries that produce and rear these plump young versions of chinook salmon ” costs $768 for every fish that’s caught.

That’s a calculation made by the state Auditor’s Office in an audit released Friday of the state’s politically popular key winter fishery.

Each year the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife produces hundreds of thousands of the juvenile salmon in hatcheries, then raises them for 14 months or more in ponds until they lose the instinct to migrate. Then the fish are released for fishermen to hook for sport.

More at
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011571859_fishaudit10m.html

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People For Puget Sound Calls on Feds Again to Analyze Southern Resident Orcas’ Need for Columbia River Chinook

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Al Bergstein

People For Puget Sound Calls on Feds Again to Analyze Southern Resident Orcas’ Need for Columbia River Chinook, Lower Snake River Dam Removal
Previous Warnings from Scientists Ignored by NOAA


Seattle, WA – Responding to a federal judge’s order that the Obama Administration more closely look at salmon-killing effects of Columbia and Snake River dams, the Executive Director of People For Puget Sound urged the government to remember that the fate of Puget Sound’s iconic killer whale population hangs in the balance.  The Southern Resident population of killer whales is at a critically low level of fewer than 90 individuals, despite several new calves in the last year.

In a 2008 study by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the government concluded that the Columbia River hydropower dams do not affect Puget Sound’s Southern Resident Killer Whales – even though the dams are responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of chinook salmon each year. Chinook make up more than 70 percent of the diet of those killer whales (also called orcas).

“NOAA’s own research has found that Southern Residents are jeopardized by salmon population declines as far south as California,” said Kathy Fletcher, Executive Director of People For Puget Sound, who sent the letter to Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco. “NOAA’s conclusion – that low chinook populations close to home in the Columbia River have no effect on our orcas – just doesn’t hold water.”

Fletcher pointed to NOAA’s conclusion last summer, in an analysis of Sacramento River water projects, that hatchery production of chinook cannot make up for wild fish mortality over the long run. “NOAA found, in 2009, that ‘There is no evidence that a population produced predominantly in hatcheries can persist over the long run,’” Fletcher said, “and yet the Columbia River analysis relies exclusively on hatchery production to mitigate for the dam-related mortality of wild salmon.”

“The Southern Resident Killer Whales will go extinct without more chinook salmon.  The orcas and the people of the Northwest who care about their fate deserve a plan for the Snake and Columbia River’s fish-killing dams that protects and restores our salmon and our resident killer whales.”

Fletcher’s letter observed that a number of prominent orca scientists brought this inconsistency to NOAA’s attention a year ago. These scientists also noted that the Columbia River analysis omitted consideration of Lower Snake River dam removal, despite strong evidence that this is the most effective measure for assuring chinook – and Southern Resident orca – survival.

A federal court has now given NOAA one last chance to fully review the scientific underpinnings of the Columbia River study.  Fletcher wrote Locke and Lubchenco, “The court has directed NOAA to look at the best available science. People For Puget Sound, representing over 20,000 concerned citizens, urges you not to overlook the Southern Resident orcas during this review, and to take seriously the real possibility of their extinction if wild salmon are not restored to the Columbia River basin.”

Conservationists and fishermen are challenging the Obama administration’s plan for the Columbia and Snake dams in a federal Court in Portland, Oregon.   People For Puget Sound is not involved in that lawsuit.

Steve Mashuda, an attorney with Earthjustice who represents plaintiffs in that case, said he hopes that the Obama administration’s current re-examination of the science behind the Columbia River analysis will be consistent with its findings for the Sacramento River.  “Our killer whales shouldn’t have to travel all the way to Monterey Bay before they can find a decent meal.  We need the Obama administration to ensure that the Columbia River, the largest salmon-producing river in the lower 48 states, can do its part and feed the orcas, too.”

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Update on Puget Sound Fisheries – Kitsap Sun

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Al Bergstein

Chris Dunagan brings us a great summary on the update by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife briefing for commercial and sports fisheries. If you are involved or interested in knowing about fish in our waters, this is a great quick read.

http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2010/03/04/some-leftovers-from-tuesdays-salmon-session/comment-page-1/#comment-18271

and from the Kitsap Sun, the article that proceeded it.

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/mar/02/state-considers-expanding-selective-fishing/

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Good news to start year…Coho return strong in Eastern Washington

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Al Bergstein

While not directly about the Olympic Peninsula, it is worth noting that the  Seattle Times, had a story today about how Columbia Coho are returning in record numbers. This is great news and continues to show that with solid funding support, efforts to mitigate dam problems, and some luck with mother nature, restocking the Columbia basin with Coho is becoming successful.  Great news, and let’s keep it moving this direction here on the Peninsula also.

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Restoring Snyder Cove

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Al Bergstein

What does it take to undo an old fashioned culvert keeping endangered salmon from going a mile or more upstream? Take a look at the three minute time lapse video from near Olympia, where a coalition of environmental organizations pushed for and achieved the reclaiming of a salmon stream. Now only a few thousand more to go!

Where’s Snyder Cove/Creek? If you use Google Earth, it’s here:

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Action Item: NOAA meetings on Killer Whale protections… you can testify…

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Al Bergstein

Killer Whale Recovery Needs Urgent Action on Salmon Recovery & Toxic Pollution Control—-People For Puget Sound today urged its members and supporters to tell the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service (NMFS) that protecting Southern Resident killer whales should focus on more critical actions needed to protect orcas in addition to new rules on vessel traffic.

“Although vessel operations can be part of the solution, we are disappointed that NOAA continues to delay on more critical actions like restoring salmon runs, reducing toxic pollutants and reducing noise impacts from sonar,” said Kathy Fletcher, executive director.

“Restoring salmon runs requires removing dams, restoring salmon habitat, requiring land use restrictions, improving water quality, and changing harvest and hatchery practices,” said Fletcher. “Without food, the Southern Resident population will not survive in Puget Sound.”

According to Fletcher, lack of public awareness about Puget Sound issues is one of the major impediments to successful protection and restoration. Whale watching is one activity that reaches thousands of people every year with compelling reasons to protect our marine waters. “It would be supreme irony to focus so intently on restricting whale watching while the whales themselves go extinct for lack of sufficient non-toxic food,” said Fletcher.

The federal agency is holding three public hearings on its proposed new rules on vessel traffic, the first hearing being held Thursday evening in Anacortes.

Regarding the proposed vessel rules:

•    People For Puget Sound supports the distance (200 yards) and no intentional parking in the path of traveling whales
•    People For Puget Sound agrees in concept with a “no-go zone” akin to the Robson Bight protected area in British Columbia, but has concerns about the scientific basis, actual size, exemptions for some types of operations, access to public parks, unintended consequences, feasibility of enforcement, and other questions.
•    People For Puget Sound suggests that NOAA/NMFS convene a vessel operator stakeholder group  that includes commercial fishing operators, container and cruise ship operators, small recreational boat companies, recreational boating and fishing groups, research vessel operators, military, whale watching companies and others to discuss operational issues and ensure that fair treatment is given to all. Tribal fishing operators should also be part of a further consultation process.

According to Fletcher, enforcement is a key pragmatic and fairness issue that should be addressed regarding both existing and proposed regulations.  Without a much-improved strategy for education and enforcement, it makes no sense to increase restrictions.

“One of the major vessel issues is inappropriate and harassing behavior by recreational boaters who are apparently unaware even of the existing limits,” said Fletcher. “Another issue is how to address the international nature of the problem, reaching Canadian boaters and whale watch operators in an effective way.”

The NOAA/NMFS meetings will be:
* Sept. 24, 2009, 7-9 p.m., Pier One Main Warehouse, 100 Commercial Avenue, Anacortes
* Sept. 30, 2009, 7-9 p.m., Seattle Aquarium, Pier 59, Seattle
* Oct. 5, 2009, 7-9 p.m., The Grange Hall, First Street, Friday Harbor

# # #
Save Our Sound.

People For Puget Sound works with people for a clean and healthy Sound. Since 1991 we have protected and restored habitat through education and action. www.pugetsound.org

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$2.1 million Morse Creek fish crib under way to preserve young Elwha River salmon -PDN

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Al Bergstein

9/23 Peninsula Daily News $2.1 million Morse Creek fish crib under way to preserve young Elwha River salmon
By Tom Callis Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is building a $2.1 million facility to preserve the endangered Elwha River Chinook salmon.

The 5,550 square-foot facility, to be completed in December, is being built as part of the $308 million project to remove the two Elwha River dams and restore the stream back to its natural state.

It is paid for by the National Park Service, and construction began about three weeks ago, said project manager Ray Berg.

More at
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20090923/NEWS/309239995

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Hate 150′ buffers? EPA implements 1000′ buffers for some pesticides

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Al Bergstein

While anti shoreline protection advocates yell about how horrible 150′ buffers would be to those who live near the Sound, this is worth thinking about. The EPA today has instituted much larger buffers for specific chemicals in order to protect salmon. Maybe we should all agree that 150′ doesn’t seem that bad after all!

Seattle, WA — Today, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to place additional limitations on the use of three organophosphate pesticides — chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion — to protect endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

The announcement comes in response to a series of lawsuits brought by Earthjustice aimed at removing toxic pesticides from salmon spawning streams throughout the northwest.

In response to Earthjustice litigation, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in November of 2008 released a “biological opinion” that set forth a plan for protecting Pacific salmon and steelhead from three toxic organophosphate pesticides. That decision came after almost a decade of legal wrangling between salmon advocates led by Earthjustice and the federal government. The biological opinion prescribed measures necessary to keep these pesticides out of water and to protect salmon populations in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. The announcement from EPA today moves this work forward.

Although the experts at NMFS recommended prohibiting aerial applications of the three pesticides within 1,000 feet of salmon waters and ground applications within 500 feet of salmon waters, EPA has taken a different course. EPA believes it can achieve the same protections for salmon with buffers ranging from 100 to 1,000 feet depending on pesticide application rate and stream size. In their announcement today, EPA says it will require industry to fund and carry out monitoring of salmon streams in order to assure the pesticide restrictions work as intended.

Chlorpyrifos

•  Contaminates rivers throughout the west at levels harmful to fish or their food sources according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The basins where chlorpyrifos was detected at harmful levels include the Willamette, San Joaquin, Tulare, and the Central Columbia Basin.

•  Is “very highly toxic” to fish according to U.S. EPA’s toxicity classification system.

•  Impairs fish reproduction by reducing egg production in fish.

•  Inhibits juvenile coho salmon feeding behavior and swimming speed.

•  Harms the survival and reproduction of salmon food sources.

Diazinon

•  Contaminates rivers throughout the west at levels harmful to fish or their food sources according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The basins where diazinon was detected at harmful levels include the Willamette, San Joaquin, Tulare, the Central Columbia Basin and Puget Sound. It was also detected in King County, Washington streams.

•  Impairs feeding, predator avoidance, spawning, homing and migration capabilities by impeding salmon sense of smell.

•  Leads to weakened swimming activity in juvenile trout.

•  Is acutely toxic to salmon food sources.

Malathion

•  Contaminates rivers throughout the west at levels harmful to fish or their food sources according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The basins where malathion was detected at harmful levels include the Willamette, San Joaquin, Tulare, and the Central Columbia Basin. It was also detected in King County, Washington streams.

•  Leads to weakened swimming activity in juvenile trout.  

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2009/epa-announces-alternative-plan-to-protect-salmon-from-pesticides.html

Apparently this may affect berry growers in our area and probably others. The lawsuit was brought after efforts to get the EPA to be proactive failed.  Malathion is routinely used as fogger in the midwest for mosquito abatement as well as head lice treatment. It was first tested on poor populations in Puerto Rico slums in the 50s to combat malaria. EPA updated the risk assessment for Malathion in 2005.  There appears to be some concern that “research in the 1989 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination Toxicology stated 25% of the malathion is still present in the water after two weeks and 10% is still present after 30 days” http://www.safe2use.com/poisons-pesticides/pesticides/malathion/genetics.htm

A web site that is worth looking at on the subject is http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/research/index.htm#intestine which details medical concerns around the world with Malathion. Use discretion with that site, it’s validity is unknown to me.  He does seem to refer to legitimate medical research articles in peer reviewed journals.

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Fix the Road, Fix the Stream – Olympian

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Al Bergstein

Since I took considerable heat from one angry citizen at the Wooden Boat show yesterday over storm culvert projects being worthless, I thought I’d share this with anyone wondering about costs and what the paybacks might be. Here’s why we are needing to raise money to support re-engineering of culverts over the next few decades. This seems to be one of those “green projects” that provided local jobs, and should benefit the salmon runs almost immediately. I’ll be interested to follow up on this to see how the runs restore themselves after this project. If you want to support this legislative effort, check out People For Puget Sounds web site for the Clean Water Photo campaign on the front page of www.pugetsound.org

*9/14/09 Olympian
Fix the road, fix the stream
JOHN DODGE; The Olympian

Sometimes road-improvement projects go hand in hand with wild salmon restoration.

Such is the case on the campus of The Evergreen State College, where one mile of prime spawning and rearing habitat soon will be available with the replacement of a fish-passage barrier near the mouth of Snyder Creek.

A 3-foot-wide culvert in the streambed under Sunset Beach Drive Northwest is being replaced with a 55-foot-long, 14-foot-wide culvert that is built to mimic the natural streambed near the creek’s juncture with Eld Inlet.

“Fish won’t even know they are in a culvert when they pass through it,” predicted Jamie Glasgow, director of science and research for the Wild Fish Conservancy.

The college, the fish conservancy, People for Puget Sound and the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group teamed up on the $214,000 project, which should be completed by Horsley Timber and Construction in the next few days in time for returning sea-run cutthroat, coho and chum salmon and possibly steelhead.

More at
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/970114.html

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Pink Salmon run large this year

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Al Bergstein

Big pink run by Staff Report

The Skagit River pink salmon run is expected to have 1.2 million fish this year, the offspring of the large pink run of 2007.

Anglers are reporting smaller-than-average pinks this year.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Brett Barkdull said the fish are coming in at 3.5 pounds on average.

More at
http://www.goskagit.com/home/article/big_pink_run/

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Movie on “World without Fish” at Wheeler Theater 9/2 at 7PM

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Al Bergstein

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTMSC) presents the Olympic Peninsula’s premiere of a feature-length documentary film called A Sea Change—Imagine a world without fish at the Wheeler Theatre in Fort Worden State Park on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 7 p.m.

“Not only are we excited to present the movie for the first time on the Peninsula, but we’ll also have the director and protagonist available to answer questions and discuss various elements of the film at its conclusion,” said Anne Murphy, executive director for the PTMSC. “I’m pleased to say this isn’t one of those ‘downer’ environmental movies, but rather has an uplifting and inspiring message. We hope you’ll join us.”

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Fraser River Sockeye numbers crashing..Snake River Sockeye improving

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Al Bergstein

Two stories of two different runs of salmon in the northwest today, one from the Fraser and one from the Snake.

Chris Dunagan does a great job covering the crash of the Fraser River Sockeye this year.  This is a critical loss of a year’s fish, and it’s still an unknown cause. Is it global warming? Sea lice? Over fishing? All the above? None of them? Whatever the cause, we have allowed our fish stocks to dwindle to levels that create a very problematic situation when we lose one year’s return. It’s worth remembering that the Fraser has produced millions of fish a year until recently.

http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2009/08/17/mystery-surrounds-millions-of-missing-fraser-sockeye/comment-page-1/#comment-14697

To the south, Oregon Public Broadcasting has a story on the return of hundreds of Snake River sockeye to Redfish Lake in Idaho. This is the same run that returned one fish in 92. Better dam water releases, some good snowpack years, etc. have helped. But both runs are in serious danger, and it will take decades to find out if we are being successful. What’s helped the most? Continual lawsuits to force the government to take action over multiple administrations. It’s sad but true that it always seems to need to go to court to get the attention and real focus of the powers that be.

http://news.opb.org/article/5651-return-redfish-snake-river-sockeye-salmon-swim-back-brink/

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Looking to fish? Head east!

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Al Bergstein

Looks like, due to a good fresh water runoff year in 2007, humpy (pink salmon) runs are up. Unfortunately their up over on the east side of the Sound. No mention if the runs from over here are at similar strength. Full story at http://www.bellinghamherald.com/outdoors/story/1019031.html

8/6 Bellingham Herald
Banner Puget Sound pink salmon runs expected
DOUG HUDDLE – THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

It’s going to be a mighty good ‘humpy’ year on most Puget Sound rivers where outstanding runs of odd-year pink salmon are anticipated.

And while the Nooksack is not expected to share in the bounty, forecasts call for more than five million wild pinks to return to just five major Western Washington river systems.

With virtually no hatchery supplementation, the 2009 run will be the product of wild reproduction, but only as a result of favorable freshwater conditions during the winter of 2007.

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