Saving Seafood

Feds say pesticide won’t destroy species

March 9, 2022 — The Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that the pesticide malathion does not jeopardize threatened and endangered species or their habitat.

In a much-awaited study that’s drawing sharp criticism from environmentalists, the federal agency backed off its most recent draft conclusion that the registration of malathion for use was likely to threaten 78 species and destroy or adversely modify 23 critical habitats (Greenwire, April 21, 2021).

“The Biden administration has squandered a historic opportunity to rein in the dangerous use of one of the world’s worst neurotoxic pesticides,” Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement today.

Burd noted that NOAA Fisheries recently released its own updated biological opinion that determined malathion and two other organophosphate pesticides jeopardize endangered U.S. salmon, sturgeon and steelhead species, as well as Puget Sound orcas.

Read the full story at E&E News

Cooke gets two wins, advancing Salish Fish steelhead project in Washington

March 1, 2022 — Cooke Aquaculture Pacific has won two victories allowing its plan to farm steelhead in the U.S. state of Washington to advance.

In a unanimous, 9-0 decision, the Washington Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to allow Cook to convert its idle Atlantic salmon net-pen farms to raise steelhead. The move was precipitated by Washington’s ban on farming of non-native species in its waters.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Good ocean conditions could be good news for salmon, NOAA says

January 10, 2022 — Fish swimming out to sea over the past year have lucked into some of the best water temperatures and food abundance along the West Coast in the last 24 years, according to an analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began monitoring ocean conditions.

That could be good news for salmon and steelhead over the next few years, biologists said.

The welcoming waters in 2021 appear to be the second most favorable for fish since scientists with NOAA began monitoring ocean conditions, said Brian Burke, research fisheries biologist at NOAA Fisheries.

“It’s sort of been this growing picture of, ‘Wow, things are really looking good right now across the board,’” Burke said.

“The upwelling created a really productive coastal system,” Burke said.

That productivity has built slowly over several years, Burke said, after a string of hard years for ocean-dwelling fish.

Read the full story at Oregon Public Broadcasting

 

House panel OKs spending to control sea lions

July 19, 2021 — U.S. Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03) and Kurt Schrader (OR-05) on July 14 announced that a joint Community Project Funding request they supported to protect endangered salmon, steelhead and other native fish species within the Columbia River system from sea lion predation, has been approved for $892,000.

The House Appropriations Committee — Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies included the funding request as part of its Fiscal Year 2022 spending plan. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is the recipient and would use the funding on equipment and related needs to remove sea lions in the Columbia River and its tributaries as outlined by a 2018 law Herrera Beutler and Schrader advocated.

The U.S. House as a whole and the U.S. Senate also must approve the spending before it will be dispersed to WDFW.

According to a press release from the representatives, the need for sea lion removal has sharply increased in recent years, as a record number of California and Steller sea lions come to the Columbia, Willamette and Snake Rivers, posing an extreme threat to struggling salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and other fish in the waterways. NOAA Fisheries says sea lions especially prey on adult salmon and steelhead migrating upriver from the ocean to Bonneville Dam, Willamette Falls and other tributaries to the Columbia River, further threatening the growth of native fish populations.

Read the full story at the Chinook Observer

Retired Biologist Leaves Legacy of Gains for Salmon Across Central Washington

June 23, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Dale Bambrick jokes he has seen the world, or at least as much as you can see between Issaquah and Ellensburg. He retired in May after 20 years leading NOAA Fisheries’ Ellensburg Office, and delivering critical gains for salmon and steelhead across Central Washington.

“I have never seen someone so committed to the resource, who was willing to say what was important and work so hard to make things happen,” said Barry Thom, Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. “I have always appreciated Dale’s commitment and his humor to get us through some pretty tough issues.”

Dale Bambrick spent 37 years protecting and improving habitat and more to recover salmon in central Washington. Dale grew up in Issaquah and then crossed the mountains to attend Central Washington University in Ellensburg. He started as an art major, but with the encouragement of a professor he switched to biology.

In 1983 Dale’s advisor encouraged him to pursue a doctorate at Oregon State University. Instead, he accepted an offer from Grant County Public Utility District to join its environmental division. There he studied strategies to improve the survival of fish passing through dams, such as guidance nets that funnel fish toward safer passage routes. He also pondered the future: Should he be a teacher, a fish biologist, or go to graduate school?

In 1988 Dale left Grant County to work for the Yakama Nation’s fisheries division, starting as a habitat biologist. Three years later he became Environmental Director, building a strong team. He helped lay the foundations for habitat conservation plans in the upper Columbia, assuring improvements for salmon. He developed the fisheries portion of the Yakama Nation’s Forest Management Plan. He also helped shape state water policy, returning more water to streams for fish.

Read the full release here

Conservation groups ask federal judge to halt salmon plan

January 22, 2021 — Salmon and steelhead advocates returned to court to again ask a federal judge to overturn the government’s plan to operate dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers in a way that pushes the fish closer to extinction.

The National Wildlife Federation and several other conservation groups, including Idaho Rivers United and the Idaho Conservation League, contend a biological opinion issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and associated documents and decisions by the Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration violate the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Last year, the agencies completed an environmental impact statement ordered by Judge Michael Simon of Portland after he found the government’s 2014 plan to be illegal. In it, the agencies dismissed the idea of breaching the four lower Snake River dams as too costly while also admitting that dam removal offered the fish the best chance of recovery. Instead, the agencies chose a plan built largely on spilling water at the dams to help speed juvenile salmon and steelhead downstream during their migration to the Pacific Ocean.

Todd True, the lead EarthJustice attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the groups felt forced to file.

Read the full story at The Spokesman-Review

Cooke Aquaculture gets key permits for steelhead transition in Washington

January 7, 2021 — Washington’s Department of Ecology has revised four water quality permits to Cooke Aquaculture to farm steelhead in net-pens it formerly used to raise Atlantic salmon.

Cooke had already received approval from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, though conservation groups have sued to block their issuance. The facilities are located near Bainbridge Island and La Conner, and are now permitted for steelhead, also known as rainbow trout.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fight over Cooke’s steelhead permits in Puget Sound headed to Washington Supreme Court

November 27, 2020 — Earlier this month, conservation groups lost a lawsuit to block Cooke Aquaculture from raising domesticated steelhead in net-pens in Washington’s Puget Sound, but the groups announced on 23 November they will file a second appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.

In January, authorities from Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) granted Cooke a five-year permit to farm steelhead in Puget Sound, and received water quality permits from the state’s Department of Ecology in September. A month later, a coalition of environmental groups, led by the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), filed a lawsuit claiming the permitting process was incomplete.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Conservation Plan Benefits California Steelhead—And Irrigators, Too

September 18, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Improvements in fish passage and assurances of water in California’s Calaveras River will help promote recovery of threatened steelhead. These changes will be implemented under the first plan of its kind in the Central Valley of California.

The Calaveras River Habitat Conservation Plan finalized this week includes commitments by the Stockton East Water District to improve conditions in the Calaveras River for steelhead. In turn, the Water District gets assurances that it can continue distributing water to irrigators and others without violating the Endangered Species Act.

It is the first Habitat Conservation Plan that NOAA Fisheries has completed in the Central Valley. It reflects a partnership with the Water District to help recover a core population of threatened steelhead while also maintaining water supplies for agricultural and municipal use.

The Plan includes a commitment from the Water District to conserve threatened steelhead in ways that will benefit the population in the long-term. In turn, the District can carry out its usual operations and serve customers even if it might have limited incidental impacts on fish. The Plan also includes a forum for public discussion and input into river management.

Read the full release here

SEATTLE TIMES: Sea lion culling is necessary for salmon runs

August 20, 2020 — One of the most obvious, inexpensive and beneficial ways to help endangered salmon will begin in earnest this winter.

Some of the sea lions that travel far up the Columbia River to gorge on dwindling salmon and steelhead runs will be culled by a coalition of states and tribes in the river basin.

Congress and regulators made the right call in allowing this to happen.

Sea lions may eat up to 44% of the Columbia spring chinook run and 25% of the Willamette River winter steelhead run each year, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A federal permit issued last week rightly authorizes the removal of up to 540 California sea lions and 176 Steller sea lions over the next five years, though far fewer are expected to be taken.

Read the full opinion piece at The Seattle Times