March 25, 2025 โ The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added eight Chinese clam exporters to a recent import alert due to contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The FDA said that products from the eight manufacturers and processors had โdetected elevated levels of PFAS, notably perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in samples of clams.โ
March 25, 2025 โ Monday marks the anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the largest ever spill in U.S. history at the time.
The nearly 1,000-foot namesake tanker carrying tens of millions of gallons of oil slammed into a reef off the coast of Alaska just after midnight on March 24, 1989 and unleashed a catastrophe never before seen in America.
Nearly 11 million gallons of oil spewed into the picturesque Prince William Sound and in the coming days photos of birds and other wildlife drenched in thick oil, struggling to survive, shocked the nation.
Hereโs what to know about the disaster that inspired federal reforms, sparked debates over the risks of oil exploration and became a rallying cry for conservationists across the nation.
March 24, 2025 โ Researchers are waging a quiet battle in the Pacific Northwest to protect one of the regionโs most iconic species โ the Dungeness crab.
Using light traps, scientists at the MaST Center Aquarium in Des Moines are gathering data that could help safeguard the future of Washingtonโs most valuable wild-caught fishery.
The study aims to fill in gaps in the biological data on Dungeness crabs. Researchers hope by monitoring the early stages of their development, they can better predict crab populations and avert crises like the one that closed the fishery in South Puget Sound a few years ago.
According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, tribal and recreational crabbing plummeted in South Puget Sound in the last 15 years, dropping from 214,404 pounds harvested in 2012 to only 8,679 pounds in 2017.
โThat was a big wake-up call for fisheries, co-managers, and part of the reason the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG) formed,โ said Ally Galiotto, Puget Sound Restoration Fund. โWe still donโt know exactly what happened. Itโs a sobering reality that sudden drops in population could happen elsewhere, and we wonโt necessarily know why or when they will happen.โ
To capture crab larvae, a light trap is deployed from docks in Washington and British Columbia. Each trap consists of a transparent bucket with an LED light strip that activates at night. The light mimics moonlight, drawing in the larvae, while a funnel prevents larger creatures from entering the trap. Once the larvae are captured, the samples are sifted, counted, and analyzed before being returned to the water.
March 21, 2025 โ Every morning is an early morning for scientists working the flood plains of the Sacramento Valley.
โPutting a cold pair of wet waders first thing in the morning โ always the most pleasant, but thatโs what the hot cup of coffee is for,โ said Jacob Montgomery.
Montgomery and his crew from California Trout head out along Yolo Countyโs stretch of the Sacramento River. They stop along the levee to spot where four cages float in the water.
โThere is a little shelf here,โ Montgomery said. โWe just pull all the cages in at once.โ
Inside the cages are baby salmon.
โInside each enclosure are five juvenile Chinook Salmon from the Coleman Natural Fishery,โ he said.
This is part of the crewโs weekly check-up on the salmon. The fish are measured and weighed.
For decades, the number of salmon in the river has sharply dropped, but now scientists believe they just might have a solution and it comes from the unlikeliest of places.
March 13 2025 โ Federal actions are causing uncertainty in the scheduled openings of Alaskaโs Pacific fisheries, raising concerns among fishermen and owner/operators about potential disruptions to the fishing season.
Recent personnel changes within the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have cast doubt on the scientific assessments crucial for managing fish stocks in the region. According to the Alaska Beacon, three NMFS employees in Alaska were recently dismissed, creating unease about the continuity of scientific research that informs fisheries management. These individuals collected and analyzed stock assessment data, a key factor in determining sustainable catch limits. Their sudden removal has led to concerns that vital scientific work may be delayed or compromised just as fisheries prepare to open.
The potential gaps in research have alarmed commercial fishermen, who rely on accurate stock assessments to guide their operations. Without up-to-date data, fishery managers face challenges setting quotas, which could result in either overly restrictive or overly lenient catch limits, both of which carry economic and ecological risks.
March 13, 2025 โ Last winter, endangered Central California Coast coho salmon returned to Mendocino Coast rivers and streams in the highest numbers since monitoring began 16 years ago. The numbers suggest NOAAโs long-term investment to recover the species is paying off.
Local businesses are also reaping the rewards. Government funding for salmon habitat restoration employs foresters, construction workers, and other professionals to rehabilitate rivers and streams damaged by historic logging.
Recovering species to the point where they can be removed from the endangered species list takes a long time. NOAA has funded dozens of restoration projects benefiting Central California Coast coho salmon in Mendocino watersheds over the last 20 years. In an area decimated by a centuryโs worth of clearcutting and other harmful practices, thereโs no shortage of restoration work to do.
โThis funding is a big deal,โ says Registered Professional Forester Chris Blencowe, who has consulted on restoration projects with NOAA partners The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Trout Unlimited (TU). โItโs diversifying the economy and directly supports good-paying local jobs with which you can support a family. Iโm from this area, and without this work, I honestly donโt know what Iโd be doing.โ
The Office of Habitat Conservationโs most recent injection of $14.5 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in new river restoration projects has taken Mendocinoโs restoration economy to new levels.
โWe got a big boost here the last couple of years with the infrastructure funding,โ says Brian Hurt, President of Wylatti Resource Management Inc. Wylatti is building projects on the Ten Mile River for TNC and at Dry Dock Gulch for TU with NOAA funding. โWe used to have just one crew doing restoration work. This past year, at least three crews worked full time through the season.โ
The success of the restoration workโand the restoration economyโowes a lot to better relationships between timber companies, landowners, restoration practitioners, and government agencies. Working together has improved the sustainability of working lands and the impact of restoration projects.
March 13, 2025 โ The Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA) has sued the U.S. state of Washingtonโs Department of Natural Resources over a recently finalized rule banning net pen aquaculture.
The lawsuit comes after the department approved a rule banning finfish farming in state waters, codifying a ban that had been implemented unilaterally by Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz in 2022. A court ultimately ruled that the executive order had โno legal effectโ and was simply the beginning of a rulemaking process. Following the court ruling, Franz worked to complete the rulemaking process to codify the ban, and in January 2025 the State Board of Natural Resources voted to finalize the rule.
March 11, 2025 โ Californiaโs Chinook salmon population continues to decline, prompting concerns over a possible third consecutive closure of the stateโs commercial and recreational salmon fishing season.
In April, the Pacific Fishery Management Council will decide whether to impose a limited fishing season or enforce a complete shutdown to facilitate stock recovery.
Recent estimates from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife indicate approximately 166,000 Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon currently in the ocean, a decrease from the preseason estimate of 214,000 last year and comparable to the 2023 estimate of 169,000. These numbers reflect a significant drop from the robust salmon population observed in Californiaโs river over a decade ago.
March 10, 2025 โ According to the NOAA California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessmentโs annual report, the California Current Ecosystem pulled out of a strong El Niรฑo pattern in 2024. That El Niรฑo delayed the onset of the annual spring upwelling of nutrient-laden water that, was nevertheless strong enough to fuel the rich West Coast ecosystem and improv environmental conditions for salmon.
NOAA Fisheries scientists presented the report to the Pacific Fishery Management Council to inform upcoming decisions on fishing seasons. The report provides a snapshot of ocean conditions, fish population abundance and habitat, and fisheries landings and fishing communitiesโ conditions. It gives short-term forecasts and longer term projections of how conditions across the ecosystem may evolve in 2025 and beyond.
โEach year we learn more about how this marine ecosystem functions and what we should be watching to anticipate change,โ said Andrew Leising, a research oceanographer at NOAA Fisheriesโ Southwest Fisheries Science Center who coauthored the new report. โWeโre getting better at forecasting what is coming at us, at the same time we see some new twists.โ
March 8, 2025 โ A long-awaited La Niรฑa finally arrived in the Pacific Ocean in January. But less than two months later, the picture is rapidly shifting.
The pattern is the foil of the better-known El Niรฑo and is typically known for cooling a vast swath of the Pacific Ocean. But the phenomenon has done little to break the cycle of excessive global heat that dominated during 2024 and has continued into 2025 โ except in the United States. And now, signs are emerging that could spell a coming end to the pattern, raising questions about what could come next โ including whether yet another record-warm year for the planet could be in the cards.
Meanwhile, a new and unexpected pattern of warming oceans in the eastern Pacific, west of South America, has sent sea temperatures soaring to more than 5 degrees above average. Called a coastal El Niรฑo, or El Niรฑo Costero, the pattern can affect weather near and far. Coastal El Niรฑo events in 2017 and 2023 caused flooding rains and high rates of dengue fever in Peru.
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