An Alaska fishery has been pitted against orcas. Can both survive? – Seattle Times

The Seattle Times has an excellent story of the people employed in long line fishing (fishing with hooks not nets) here in Port Townsend, as they find themselves caught between the court battle between NOAA and the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC). The WFC has sued to stop NOAA’s supposed “safe catch” limits for harvesting Chinook salmon. The numbers, as the story mentions, are depressing, with chinook down 60% over the last decades. NOAA continues to act as if almost nothing is wrong, and yet the WFC found significant flaws in their arguments, which one judge agreed with, and other judges did not. While the battle goes on in court, the folks who take chinook are usually small boat owners, as documented by the Times. I know some of these people and they are struggling to maintain the catch in an environmentally positive way, while supplying the restaurants you eat at with salmon. As the catch declines, it’s a lose-lose-lose for all of us.

While this story is behind the Times paywall, you might get a free article before being shut out. But I highly recommend you subscribe to the Times, even if the online version. Do I like their politics? Nope. But they are the last major news outlet actually sending dozens of reporters into the field for pay. That’s worth supporting.

By Isabella Breda  – Seattle Times staff reporter

PORT TOWNSEND — With her legs tucked to her chest in the wood-paneled wheelhouse of the F/V Nerka, steaming mug of coffee in hand, Tele Aadsen reminisced on the fishery that led her to meet her life and fishing partner, Joel, and helped her connect with the sea.

It has been an up-and-down year for Aadsen and other fishers who pilot their boats out of this port each June and head to the waters of Sitka, Alaska, to catch Chinook, or king salmon.

They’ve been embroiled in a court battle over the future of a fishery worth about $85 million a year, whose fleet trolls with hook and line instead of large nets, to catch salmon sold to restaurants and grocers all over the West and beyond.

Read the whole story with great photos of our local fisherpeople here>An Alaska fishery has been pitted against orcas. Can both survive? | The Seattle Times

Court rules to allow commercial troll fishers to continue to over-harvest depleted salmon stock

June 23, 2023— In a shocking ruling against Endangered Species protection, a Ninth Circuit Court approved a request by NOAA Fisheries, the State of Alaska, and the Alaska Trollers Association that will allow commercial troll fishers in Southeast Alaska to continue over-harvesting depleted Chinook salmon, jeopardizing the recovery of both wild chinook and critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

The lower Court decision was set to close the fishery beginning on July 1st, in just ten days. Now, despite numerous environmental violations and ongoing harm found by a federal District Court, the stay will allow the fishery to continue operating while the Ninth Circuit considers the case on appeal.

“The economic, ecological, and cultural cost of losing Southern Resident orcas and wild Chinook is unfathomable. It is unfortunate that the Ninth Circuit determined the short-term economic interests of Southeast Alaska commercial harvesters should be prioritized over the long-term interests of all current and future generations of First Nations, Tribal Nations, and communities throughout the Pacific Northwest who depend on these iconic species,” said Emma Helverson, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “We are incredibly disheartened by this decision to continue the fishery while California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are enacting closures or severe constraints on many of the same populations due to continuing Chinook declines. We strongly advocate for consumers to avoid purchasing Chinook caught in Southeast Alaska.”

In March, a federal District Court issued a final order in a lawsuit brought by Wild Fish Conservancy against NOAA Fisheries requiring the Southeast Alaska commercial troll fishery to remain closed in the summer and winter seasons until the federal government provided a new analysis and conducted environmental review demonstrating that the fishery’s harvest plan would not continue to jeopardize endangered Southern Resident killer whales or threatened Chinook salmon.

In their ruling on remedy, the District Court considered the economic disruption that closure of the fishery would pose to Alaskan commercial fishers, yet determined protecting species threatened or endangered with extinction is the greatest priority under the Endangered Species Act. Referencing existing case law, the Court’s report and recommendation stated: “The ESA . . . did not seek to strike a balance between competing interests but rather singled out the prevention of species [extinction] . . . as an overriding federal policy objective.”

Southern Resident killer whales were listed as Endangered in 2005. Currently, there are only 73 individuals in the population, an alarming decrease from nearly 100 only 25-years ago. Reduced prey availability, specifically large and abundant wild Chinook, has been identified by killer whale experts and NOAA as the primary cause of their decline. Research has shown an alarming 69% of Southern Resident killer whale pregnancies are aborted due to insufficient prey.

“It’s possible to find creative solutions to compensate and protect the economic interests of fishers in the interim while NOAA corrects their violations,” says Helverson. “On the other hand, it’s impossible to replace Southern Resident killer whales or wild Chinook once they are gone, extinction is forever.”

In NOAA’s 2019 biological opinion evaluating the fishery’s impact on threatened and endangered species, NOAA admitted that over the last decade and persisting today, Chinook harvest in Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery is occurring at levels that are unsustainable for the long-term survival and reproductive success of both threatened wild Chinook populations and endangered Southern Resident killer whales. Still, NOAA authorized the harvest to continue at these levels relying on proposed mitigation they claimed would offset this serious harm. In summary judgement in August, the District Court overwhelmingly found the mitigation was insufficient and seriously violated the ESA and that NOAA also evaded legally required environmental review.

While the fishery occurs in Southeast Alaska marine waters, the majority of Chinook harvested in the Alaskan troll fishery are not Alaskan Chinook. Up to 97% of all Chinook harvested in the fishery are born in rivers throughout British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Roughly half of the fish harvested originate from the Columbia River, and many come from populations listed as Threatened under the ESA. These Chinook are harvested in their ocean nursery habitats, preventing them from reaching maturity and returning back to their homewaters where the Southern Resident killer whales encounter them. The majority of stocks harvested in the fishery are identified as priority stocks for the malnourished and endangered whale population.

“While communities throughout the coast have closed fisheries and made significant economic sacrifices to protect threatened and endangered Chinook populations in their home rivers, these same depleted populations are being harvested far from home in Southeast Alaska where they are marketed and sold as sustainable Alaskan Chinook,” says Helverson. “While this case is about conservation, it’s also about equity and we will continue to advocate for the conservation burden of protecting and restoring these species to be more equally shared by all communities who depend on them.”

“We know yesterday’s decision is concerning to so many who have been following this case and working tirelessly to recover our beloved Southern Resident killer whales and wild Chinook populations. Despite this temporary setback, the appeal process is just beginning and we remain dedicated to advocating for the recovery of these iconic species through every avenue possible,” says Helverson.

Cooke Aquaculture leaves Puget Sound

(From Wild Fish Conservancy) -Cooke Aquaculture, is pulling up stakes, hitting the road, and leaving Puget Sound forever. All week, local residents and members of the public stood on the shores of Bainbridge Island watching workers operating loaders and cranes packing up nets, removing debris, and pulling up anchors and chains that have been holding the industry’s net pens in place for over forty years.  Across the Sound, in Kiket Bay, local landowners watched as the Hope Island net pen was rigged up to a towboat and pulled out of sight and away from the waters it polluted daily at the mouth of the Skagit River. Below is a photo taken on Wednesday immediately after the Hope Island net pen was removed, showcasing the bay’s first moments free of commercial net pens.

In November, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz made clear she heard the voices of the nearly 10,000 individuals and hundreds of organizations and businesses working together under the Our Sound, Our Salmon coalition when she issued her groundbreaking decision that the Department of Natural Resources was taking bold action to protect Puget Sound from commercial net pen aquaculture. Not only did Commissioner Franz deny the industry’s request for new decade-long leases to operate in our public waters, but she took an even bolder step by enacting a new policy banning commercial net pen aquaculture in Washington marine waters indefinitely. 


Whether this will hold up to the court challenge being brought by some Tribes remains to seen. Franz, running for Governor against Attorney General Bob Ferguson and facing criticism by some environmental organizations for her forestry policies, needed to bolster support from the environmental wing, while deciding that alienating tribes like the Jamestown S’Klallam would not cost her much in the way of votes. Certainly this will play well on “The eastside of the Sound” where her fundraising will be primarily done, as Seattleites rarely understand the subtleties of the issues raised by those on the Peninsula. Why? The Jamestown have been working with Cooke on changing the net pens to native Black Cod (Sablefish). So they are not happy about this decision. Other tribes have supported this decision, once again highlighting that the Tribes of the Salish Sea are not a single entity in their decision-making, but a coalition of individual political entities with unique needs. It is unclear of how this may play out as the State works with the Tribes on future negotiations around fishing regulations.

Years ago, I interviewed a local elderly fisherman, who had fished the areas around Agate Pass. His belief was that after the net pens came in, he noticed a significant drop in wild salmon the following years. Of course, this could have been coincidental, given the amount of destruction happening through rampant development about the same time to the spawning streams of Puget Sound and overfishing off the coast. But I was also hearing similar things from other older fishermen about the Hood Canal Floating Bridge, which then turned out to be true. A large sum of money is being spent right now to mitigate what has only lately proved out to be the correct assumption of that “old timer” regarding Hood Canal. We’ll get to see if salmon numbers recover in the Agate Pass area, now that Cooke is gone.

How a River Breathes

Filmmaker John Gussman caught two views of the new levee project on the Dungeness River recently. This is what is also known as a floodplain. By allowing the river to “breathe” and overflow it’s banks, without endangering manmade structures like homes and farms, you save the river and the ecosystem that it exists in. As you can see, this is less than one month apart. Allowing home development in such a location is asking for problems, and problems were what the Dungeness valley had for many decades after white people attempted to tame the river. This is a compromise. The river is allowed to breathe, a few farms and homes are paid to relocate, and moving forward, the likelihood of more salmon coming back to a habitat that they can survive and reproduce in is given a much higher probability of success. In addition to fish, this promotes a wide array of flora and fauna, including ducks, geese, and many others. The Dungeness River Management Team (DRMT), which includes farmers, duck hunters, and with help from the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe worked for decades to make this possible, with millions in help from the federal and state government and our State and Federal representatives. For a more detailed look at this issue, you can watch my 2010 film, “Working for the River” that covers the issues in recovering the Dungeness. https://vimeo.com/80651319

Thanks to John Gussman for use of the drone photos. John is available for video and still work. Check out Doubleclick Productions – Photography-Video Production-Stock Imagery-UAV Drone Services located on the Olympic Peninsula (dcproductions.com) for his other projects.

Bad bill on watersheds needs your input.

Oddly, Senator Kevin Van de Wege is promoting a terrible bill, (SB5517) which would dramatically alter the issue of the instream flow rule. Eastern Washington has been trying for years to get something like this through but the Dems have been not been willing to support it. Now, with Van de Wege co-sponsoring this bill, it seems possible. Below you will find a Sierra Club overview of the problems with this bill. I am surprised if the Tribes support this. My guess is that the farmers of the Dungeness valley are behind this and getting Kevin to promote it. With only two sponsors my experience tells me it’s just a straw dog that Kevin did for them. We encountered this same kind of bill a few years ago regarding gravel bed “management” by farmers down on the Chehalis River. The tribes killed the bill. But it’s not to say that there ought to be a solid showing of dislike for this.

Please contact Kevin’s office and also put your comments in down at the State web site.

. Quick action – sign in “CON”

  1. Go to the SB 5517 Sign-In webpage. (this is a direct link to the SB 5517 specific sign on)
  2. Choose CON as your position
  3. Fill in the remaining boxes: First name, Last name, Email, Address, and Phone
  4. Leave Organization blank
  5. Check the box “I’m not a robot
  6. Finally, hit submit!

Washington tribe tests its rights to commercial net pen fish farming | KNKX Public Radio

An executive order from a Washington state agency earlier this month aims to end commercial net pen fish farming in public waters. Cooke Aquaculture is being forced to shut down its operations, but it has a key partner in its fight to remain. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is forging ahead with its net pen aquaculture plans, testing a carve-out clause in the order.
— Read on www.knkx.org/environment/2022-12-01/washington-tribe-tests-its-rights-to-commercial-net-pen-fish-farming

Over-the-counter pesticides found in islands’ forage fish-San Juan Journal

Very troubling findings in a recent research on pesticides found in Sand Lance which are fish eaten by many higher level predators. Please do not use pesticide sprays like this for carpenter ants and other insects. You likely are poisoning yourself and the environment.

An intriguing sidelight of the Kwiaht study is a finding that sand lances collected closest to Admiralty Inlet, the entrance to Puget Sound, were on average twice as contaminated with pyrethroid pesticides as sand lances collected on the north side of San Juan County closest to the Fraser River plume.

https://www.sanjuanjournal.com/news/over-the-counter-pesticides-found-in-islands-forage-fish/

The retreating glaciers of Puget Sound -Ecopugetsond.org

Bad news on the glacial front. “When the snow leaves the mountains the world ends”-Native legend. Likely true for civiluzation on the peninsula. Our society here depends on it glacial runoff.

Puget Sound’s glaciers are melting rapidly due to climate change. The North Cascades mountains have lost about 56% of their glacial ice while estimates show that glaciers in the Olympics could be gone within the next 50 years. Scientists say salmon and other species could be hard hit as the region loses its “giant storage tank” of ice.

https://www.eopugetsound.org/

What happens to salmon deep in the Pacific Ocean? Biggest-ever expedition to shed light – WA Post

Research continues on the mystery of the salmon in the open ocean. A big blank canvas with a few details currently sketched out. This may fill in more of the blank space.


The largest-ever salmon research expedition in the North Pacific, now underway, aims to shed light on that stage in the salmon life cycle. Five ships from the United States, Canada and Russia have been collecting salmon samples and studying ocean conditions across about a million square miles. Researchers hope to map where salmon from different rivers spend their winter months — when less food is available and they are particularly vulnerable — and detect signs of competition between salmon species following marine heat waves in recent years. Joshua Partlow reports. (Washington Post)

What happens to salmon deep in the Pacific Ocean? Biggest-ever expedition begins to shed light

Streamside Shade & Legislation – Salish Current

The Lorraine Loomis Act named in honor of the late Swinomish tribal leader, failed in the Legislature this year. . The bill focused on protecting, restoring and maintaining habitat along salmon-bearing streams and drainages. Here’s a bit of why it did, despite the Governor’s backing.


Salmon recovery is a priority for many in Washington who see vegetated streamside buffers as important to salmon-friendly habitat. But some in the state’s agricultural community see the threat of loss of productive farmland from proposals such as the Lorraine Loomis Act discussed earlier in this year’s legislative session. Lauren Gallup reports. (Salish Current)

Streamside shade: fish and farm advocates struggle to find common ground

Northern Washington Tribes fear devastation of salmon by extreme floodwaters – KUOW

While this story is not specifically about the Peninsula, it is about issues that we faced along with the Bellingham and B.C. environment in the last month. Our rivers flooded also, just not quite as bad. As we all know, the salmon of this region are on the brink of extinction, along with our Orcas. Every year our human induced climate brings 500 year floods to already destroyed ecosystems the fish become more threatened. The Salish Sea is an ecosystem itself, what is happening to the east and north of us is tied to us by the water.

When a month’s worth of rain hit northern Washington and southern British Columbia in just a couple of days in mid-November, the resulting extreme flows scoured streams and riverbeds. They flushed away gravel and the salmon eggs incubating just below the surface, likely by the millions.

KUOW

https://kuow.org/stories/northern-washington-tribes-fear-devastation-of-salmon-by-extreme-floodwaters-ffcd

Lawsuit Adds New Protections and Increased Foraging Opportunity for Starving Southern Resident Killer Whales – Wild Fish Conservancy

Wild Fish Conservancy put out this update on their work last week. It is interesting to note the details of what we are told about the government desire to protect and restore wild salmon versus the actual regulations that they are creating. I’ll reproduce the whole email here. But first, why is this information important to us here? 

Our Governor and fisheries management people publicly state that they are fighting to protect wild salmon stocks. Wild Fish Conservancy spends the time to be in the meetings and review the actual laws that are being passed, both state and federal to bring these goals to a reality. 

It appears that even with the best of intentions, the goals are washed out in the process, eventually continuing the practices that have led us here, with what seems like ‘greenwashing’ the work. Why? 

That a 10 year agreement between the U.S. and Canada of over 100 pages of work governing our joint salmon stocks would not include any reference to Southern Resident killer whales or their forage needs seems more than an oversight. 

We cannot rely on government to take a strong stance in their efforts to save the wild stocks. The pressures (in terms of real dollars) on them are too great to expect them to have the backbone to accomplish them. While so many organizations talk about actually taking the steps to restore salmon Wild Fish Conservancy is willing to sue to make sure the science is implemented in law. I dislike lawsuits, but at times, they are the only tool left, before all the salmon are gone forever.

As Kurt says at the end of this email: Despite NOAA’s acknowledgement that the current harvest rates are harming both ESA-listed Chinook and orcas, they continue to authorize the fishery to operate business as usual, citing speculative and unproven plans to mitigate this harm. To date, this hypothetical mitigation has yet to be implemented, yet the fishery continues to harvest at the expense of both protected species.

I applaud their efforts in an era when too little is being done to stand up to industry and government inaction and hope you will support their work as you can.

__________________________________

NEW PROTECTIONS
This week, as the result of a lawsuit by Wild Fish Conservancy and the Center for Biological Diversity, federal fisheries managers announced a proposal to increase protections and foraging opportunity for the starving Southern Resident killer whale population.

The action comes in the form of a newly proposed amendment to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan, which guides the management of all salmon fisheries in Federal waters off the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Once adopted, the newly proposed ‘Amendment 21’ will finally acknowledge and address the complex prey needs of the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whale population by limiting non-tribal commercial Chinook salmon fishing in years of low Chinook salmon abundance to protect foraging opportunities for the orcas. Killer whale scientists have identified lack of available prey as the primary cause of the Southern Resident’s decline.

These new protections are the result of a 2019 lawsuit challenging NOAA Fisheries for failing to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence that the current management plan governing these West Coast fisheries is harvesting prey critical to the survival of the Southern Residents, especially in years of low Chinook abundance.

The fisheries’ impacts on the protected orca population had not been formally analyzed since 2009. Our lawsuit called for the agency to conduct a new analysis, as required by the Endangered Species Act, that considered over a decade of new scientific information about the reason for the population’s decline, their relationship to salmon, and the impacts of prey depletion on their survival and recovery. NOAA Fisheries finally agreed to conduct a new analysis which confirmed current management was not sufficient to meet the needs of the endangered Southern Residents and that actions would need to be taken to improve foraging opportunities for the starving whales, leading to the proposed new amendment.

SETTING A NEW PRECEDENT
As an action alone, the new amendment is a small step forward when considering the scope of the crisis facing the Southern Resident killer whales. At the same time, this action represents the beginning of a fundamental shift in how federal agencies should be managing commercial salmon fisheries. 

Amendment 21 sets a new precedent that says it is no longer acceptable to fundamentally ignore the prey needs of federally-protected killer whales when managing commercial salmon fisheries.

 

Below we’ve shared information about another lawsuit filed by Wild Fish Conservancy in 2020 over harvest practices in Southeast Alaska that are contributing to the decline of both Southern Resident killer whales and Puget Sound Chinook. Amendment 21, and the underlying litigation, have set in motion important momentum critical to the outcome of this second ongoing lawsuit.

A COASTWIDE THREAT
The Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan is not unique. For decades, commercial salmon harvest plans authorized by federal and state officials throughout the coast have ignored or failed to adequately address the prey needs of the Southern Residents. When fishery managers come to the table to make critical salmon harvest and allocation decisions, the whales are often not considered as a “stakeholder”, despite the population’s continued decline toward extinction and federal protected status.

A primary example is the Pacific Salmon Treaty, an international agreement between the United States and Canada that governs the management of all Pacific salmon stocks of mutual concern and is the most consequential and far-reaching management plan governing commercial salmon fisheries in Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. In 2018, the public had the opportunity to review the Pacific Salmon Treaty’s new 10-year agreement, which will be in affect through the year 2028. In the over 100 page document, there is not a single mention of the Southern Resident killer whales, let alone their foraging needs.

Last month, Wild Fish Conservancy submitted our summary judgement motion in another lawsuit against NOAA Fisheries launched in 2020 over the authorization of harvest in the Southeast Alaska Chinook troll fishery that is pushing both Southern Residents and wild Chinook populations in the northwest closer to extinction, a conclusion NOAA acknowledges in their own 2019 analysis of the fishery.

The Chinook troll fishery operates 10-months of the year outside of Southeast Alaska and is considered a mixed-stock fishery, meaning a fishery where Chinook are indiscriminately harvested regardless of their protected status, age, hatchery or wild origin, and what river they originated from.

Nearly all of the fish harvested in this fishery will go on to be marketed as sustainably-certified, wild-caught Alaskan Chinook. However, data confirms 97% of the Chinook harvested in the fishery originate from rivers in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. If given the opportunity, these Chinook would migrate back down the coast serving as the primary prey for the Southern Resident killer whales as the Chinook pass through the whale’s key forage areas. Instead, these fish are being harvested outside of the range of the whales and at levels that federal fishery managers acknowledge are unsustainable for the long-term survival and reproductive success of the Southern Resident population.

At the same time, wild Chinook are being harvested regardless of their origin and status under the Endangered Species Act, which further impedes the recovery of critical Chinook populations throughout the Pacific Northwest the whale’s depend on. 

Despite NOAA’s acknowledgement that the current harvest rates are harming both ESA-listed Chinook and orcas, they continue to authorize the fishery to operate business as usual, citing speculative and unproven plans to mitigate this harm. To date, this hypothetical mitigation has yet to be implemented, yet the fishery continues to harvest at the expense of both protected species. The insufficiency and hypothetical nature of the mitigation is at the heart of Wild Fish Conservancy’s arguments in this case. We will be sure to continue to update you as this extremely consequential lawsuit moves forward over the coming months.

Pebble Mine Alaska- Army Corps denies permit

The Army Corps of Engineers just denied the permit for Pebble Mine! The proposed mine threatens Bristol Bay, Alaska — home of one of the last great wild salmon runs and Indigenous communities who rely on it.

The Army Corps of Engineers found that the mine would likely result in significant degradation of the environment. So it officially rejected the permit under section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

This is a huge victory for communities near Bristol Bay, the salmon fisheries, our environment, and our climate. It sends a message loud and clear to corporate polluters that they cannot destroy our pristine wild places.  It does not end the project, but is a serious setback for it, easily carrying the decision over to a new President Biden if Trump is not re-elected.

If the mine is built, it could generate more than 10 billion tons of dangerous waste, wipe out 90 miles of salmon streams, and pollute more than 5,000 acres of wetlands, ponds, and lakes. It would likely decimate the local salmon populations — in turn impacting the local communities that depend on them.

More than 65 percent of Alaskans, and 80 percent of Bristol Bay residents — including Native people — strongly oppose the mine. The only ones who would benefit are Pebble Limited Partnership and their affiliates. Together, we stood up to the powerful advocates for the mine — and we won.

The Pebble Mine fight isn’t over yet. The EPA could still advance the project. But this victory is a huge step in the right direction — proving that people power works and we can stop polluters from harming the planet.

New viruses discovered in endangered wild Pacific salmon populations | UBC Science – Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia

As if we needed another problem for our dwindling salmon stocks to face, now this.

New viruses discovered in endangered wild Pacific salmon populations
— Read on science.ubc.ca/news/new-viruses-discovered-endangered-wild-pacific-salmon-populations

Pink salmon numbers may threaten other North Pacific species – AP

The pieces to the salmon puzzle continue to come in from the various angles of research being done. The scientists in this article don’t claim to be have the sole answer but are raising questions that run counter to the narrative that the hatchery supporters want to tell. This is healthy debate and given the stakes for our last great fishery, are worth putting more money into determining whether these root causes or not.

Biological oceanographer Sonia Batten experienced her lightbulb moment on the perils of too many salmon three years ago as she prepared a talk on the most important North Pacific seafood you’ll never see on a plate — zooplankton.

https://www.apnews.com/e589a757f4fd48869af6e17845c5c857

And this follow up story showed up from KUOW

‘Slowly slipping away.’ Fewest sockeye salmon ever counted at Ballard Locks

Sockeye salmon are returning to Lake Washington in the smallest numbers since record-keeping started.

As of early August, 17,000 sockeye had returned from the ocean, compared to hundreds of thousands inat their peak years.

https://kuow.org/stories/slowly-slipping-away-sockeye-numbers-at-ballard-locks-reach-record-lows

COHO SALMON FOUND IN LAKE SUTHERLAND – NW Treaty Tribes

The good news keeps coming. Wild coho have found mixing with fix that had been moved into and out of the hatchery during the dam removal.

During the tribe’s annual monitoring of Indian Creek, which connects Lake Sutherland to the Elwha River, the tribe found smolts up to 10 inches long in the tribe’s fyke net. Coho smolts are typically half that size.

Read the rest of the story here:

https://nwtreatytribes.org/coho-salmon-found-in-lake-sutherland/

Washington state to regulate federal dams on Columbia, Snake to cool hot water, aid salmon – Seattle Times

In a move that might be the beginning of the State finally deciding that they are going to need to manage the Columbia River dams, this has been announced.That our state has been ignoring the temperatures in the Snake and Columbia for decades while billions of salmon fry and mature salmon have perished is another block in the wall of shame that has led us to this point.

Dams and climate change are the leading cause of high temperatures in the Columbia and Snake rivers that are killing salmon, according to an EPA draft analysis. Now the state wants to get involved.

And to drive home the point of the Lower Snake River Dams (LSRDs) let’s review the information that has been put together by DamSense.org

The 4 LSRD’s have a benefit to cost ratio of 15¢ on the dollar, forego about 4,000 jobs and $500 million in direct expenditures and about $20 million per year that could go to State School budgets, when compared to the benefits of a free flowing river.
The cost of producing power (that is surplus and rarely available for meeting peak demands) adds significant pressure to BPA’s dire financial situation causing rate increases and diverts funds from other dams and restoration work. In the last 93,000 hours of production, the 4 LSRDs produced only 2 hours of power needed by BPA customers.

…The 4LSRDs provide no flood protection. Irrigation to a small number of farms on Ice Harbor pool can easily be upgraded as a mitigation feature of breaching.

Inland waterborne transport on the lower snake of wheat has declined significantly over the last 10 years as Washington State (through its grain shuttle service) and farmers are finding it cheaper to ship by rail. Petroleum shipments up the lower Snake virtually ceased several years ago with the only remaining terminal located at mile 1 on the lower Snake River which is NOT impacted by breaching of the 4LSRD’s

Prepared by J Waddell, Civil Engineer, PE, USACE Retired

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/washington-state-to-regulate-federal-dams-on-columbia-snake-to-cool-hot-water-check-pollution/

 

State discusses killing seals and sea lions in Puget Sound

Perhaps the most controversial idea out of the Orca task force has been the notion of killing sea lions and seals to help salmon survive. Like many ideas, this one is simplistic and has the greatest appeal to people who don’t want to spend much time thinking about whether something works or just makes you feel like you are doing something. Fish and Wildlife are holding meetings to gather information on whether or not this really is an idea with merit. Biologists who study the food chain aren’t so sure. If you think you already know the answer, then you should read this article. “There is no guarantee of a response by the salmon in terms of returning adults.” And you know what an assumption is, it’s a word made up of and makes an “ass of u and me”. Let’s put the science of this in it’s rightful place, which is at the head of the train and not tow it along in our ill informed wake.

State wildlife commissioners heard testimony Friday about whether a seal and sea lion cull could help save salmon, and thereby restore food to the starving Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW)…. “It’s important to set the stage that this occurs in a very complex ecosystem and it is a very complex food web,” said WDFW Research Scientist Scott Pearson…. “If you want a 25 percent reduction in the total juvenile Chinook consumption by seals, we have to reduce this number of 19,000 seals down to 14,300. If you subtract this number from this number, that’s how many we have to remove 4,700 seals, and we have to annually remove 530 seals per year to keep it at that level,” Pearson said. But the problem is, salmon also face a slew of other challenges, including hydropower, hatcheries, habitat, disease, and contaminants. Scientists told commissioners they don’t know whether killing seals and sea lions will do anything at all…. “In my opinion, even if the seal consumption were somehow reduced or eliminated, there is no guarantee of a response by the salmon in terms of returning adults,” said WDFW Research Scientist Joe Anderson. Alison Morrow reports. (KING) See also: Puget Sound resident orcas limited by social behavior  Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

State discusses killing seals and sea lions in Puget Sound 

PSI COLLABORATOR RECEIVES NSF GRANT TO STUDY COHO DEATHS – Puget Sound Institute

Good news. A grant has been awarded to do deeper research into road runoff and how it kills salmon. It will include citizen scientists to help find the specimens and alert the researchers to die offs.

PSI collaborator Ed Kolodziej has received a $330,000 National Science Foundation grant to expand his research on toxic pollutants in Puget Sound. Kolodziej’s project will identify chemicals in stormwater that are killing coho salmon and endangering some spawning runs. The project includes a collaboration with citizen scientists who will alert project members to salmon die-offs as they are happening. Kolodziej’s team will then collect water and tissue samples from these sites that they will analyze using at the labs of PSI’s parent group the Center for Urban Waters.

Read the full story here:

https://www.pugetsoundinstitute.org/2018/08/psi-collaborator-receives-nsf-grant-to-study-coho-deaths/?utm_campaign=grants-and-funding&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

Chef Renee Erickson pulls king salmon from menu after learning of starving orcas – KUOW

It seems there is something happening, right now. I called for looking into a moratorium on chinook harvest in the Salish Sea and just off the coast, and now (totally separate from my article) Canadian environmentalists and a restaurant in Seattle are also calling for a  halt for the demand for Salish Sea chinook. I’m reaching out to a Seattle fisheries expert who claims it won’t matter. We’ll see if he has time to help me and you understand why.  More to follow.

A Seattle restaurateur has stopped offering chinook salmon at her restaurants. Renee Erickson, chef and owner of a group of restaurants, including The Walrus and the Carpenter in Ballard, said she made the decision after learning about the plight of J50, the young, ailing orca whale.

http://kuow.org/stories/chef-renee-erickson-pulls-king-salmon-from-menu-after-learning-of-starving-orcas

and

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-chef-renee-erickson-takes-chinook-salmon-off-menus-to-help-ailing-puget-sound-orcas/

 

 

 

 

 

%d bloggers like this: