There’s no doubt that salmon raised in hatcheries are important. They make up the bulk of what’s caught in the ocean. But researchers meeting this week in Portland say hatchery salmon pose a threat to their wild cousins.
OPB: Scientists Determine Hatchery Salmon Threaten Wild Fish
ODFW is looking for help as it battles an army of invasive goldfish at a lake in Eastern Oregon.
After three years of depressing news, there’s finally enough salmon to allow for fishing everywhere on the West Coast this summer.
It wasn’t all that long ago that the Columbia River would be filled with smelt during migration season. There were enough of these tiny fish to support a vibrant commercial fishing industry. Millions of pounds were harvested every year.
Then sometime in the 1990s, things started to go very badly for the Pacific Smelt.
On Tuesday, NOAA Fisheries announced it will list the fish as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Chinook Salmon Courtesy USGS
After a few brutal years, things are looking somewhat better for Oregon’s coastal salmon fishermen.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council released its salmon forecast for 2010. Salmon numbers on the Sacramento and Klamath rivers are high enough to allow for some kind of commercial fishing season off Southern Oregon and California.
Along the Northern Oregon and Washington coasts, the situation looks better. Coho numbers are down about a third from last year, but Chinook numbers are up.
Still to be determined… how much actual fishing will be allowed.
During Thursday’s Klamath Basin signing ceremony, one group was conspicuously absent, Oregon’s environmental community.
Groups such as Oregon Wild and Water Watch, say they were kicked out of the talks that produced the two historic deals on Klamath Basin water sharing and dam removal. National groups such as American Rivers and Trout Unlimited did sign on.
Earlier this week, we talked with Sean Stevens of Oregon Wild about his group’s objections. He calls this a billion dollar boondoggle that doesn’t do enough to protect Klamath Basin salmon.
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THURSDAY:
Klamath Basin Agreements
Decades of fighting over water, salmon and dams in the Klamath Basin could come to a close Thursday in Salem. Governor Kulongoski, Governor Schwarzenegger and Interior Secretary Salazar will take part in a ceremony to sign two agreements that are designed to make sure there’s enough water for farming and salmon, while laying out a plan to remove four dams from the Klamath River,
Despite the historic nature of the agreements, they’re unpopular with Oregon’s environmental community. Oregon Wild says the deals don’t do enough to protect salmon, and allow farming on two wildlife refuges.
The ceremony is Thursday morning in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Salem.
Chinook Salmon Courtesy USGS
When the chinook salmon return on the Columbia River next spring, get ready for massive numbers of fish.
Wildlife officials say they’re expecting about 470,000 chinook for the spring run. If that prediction is accurate, it would be the biggest return of spring chinook since 1938.
The announcement by Oregon Fish and Wildlife, Washington Fish and Wildlife and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, admits that past predictions of salmon runs haven’t always been on target.
So they’re taking extra precautions to get it right for 2010.
A commercial halibut boat in Sitka, Alaska. Photo from NOAA.
Hoping to rebound fish stocks and boost coastal economies, NOAA is calling for big changes in how commercial fishermen go about their business.
The agency says it’s starting a voluntary program to encourage the industry to move to what’s called Catch Share systems. These rules are already in place for 13 commercial fisheries around the country. Four more fisheries will adopt the rules over the next year.
So how does this work?
