September 17, 2019 — The Middle Fork of the Salmon River, one of the wildest rivers in the contiguous United States, is prime fish habitat. Cold, clear waters from melting snow tumble out of the Salmon River Mountains and into the boulder-strewn river, which is federally protected.
Scientists Discover Three New Viruses That Infect Endangered Salmon
September 5, 2019 — Scientists from the University of British Columbia, Fisheries and Ocean Canada, and the Pacific Salmon Foundation have discovered three new viruses that infect endangered Chinook and sockeye salmon – including one that was previously thought to only infect mammals.
These fish are considered to be ‘keystone species’ – meaning they have a disproportionately large impact on their ecosystem, making them a high priority for conservation. However, populations of both Chinook and sockeye salmon have been declining in the Pacific Northwest for the last three decades despite increased fishing regulations.
Researchers believe viruses may be part of the cause of the salmon declines. To date, most research on salmon-infecting viruses has focused on the piscine orthoreovirus, or PRV. PRV can cause ‘Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation Disease’ (HSMI) in Atlantic salmon, devastating farmed stocks. However, PRV does not have the same disease-causing effect on Chinook and sockeye salmon.
Will cutting salmon out of our diets save the Puget Sound orcas?
August 29, 2019 — Salmon is a popular food in the Pacific Northwest for humans and orcas alike. But, the Southern Resident Orcas are struggling with their sole food source, Chinook Salmon, getting smaller and smaller.
With that in mind, is it still a good idea for us to consume fish? Will cutting salmon out of our diets help our orca population rebound?
Ray Hilborn is a professor at the University of Washington’s University of School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. His research focuses on ways to best manage fisheries to provide sustainable benefits to human society.
“In general, fisheries have quite a bit lower environmental impact than livestock, and even with respect to crops, many fisheries look very good compared to crops,” said Hilborn.
California sails toward biggest salmon harvest in years
August 26, 2019 — Trolling off the California coast, Sarah Bates leans over the side of her boat and pulls out a long, silvery fish prized by anglers and seafood lovers: wild king salmon.
Reeling in a fish “feels good every time,” but this year has been surprisingly good, said Bates, a commercial troller based in San Francisco.
She and other California fishermen are reporting one of the best salmon fishing seasons in years, thanks to heavy rain and snow that ended the state’s historic drought.
It’s a sharp reversal for chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, an iconic species that helps sustain many Pacific Coast fishing communities.
California king salmon rebounds after drought
August 22, 2019 — California fishermen are reporting one of the best salmon fishing seasons in years, thanks to heavy rain and snow that ended the state’s historic drought.
It’s a sharp reversal for chinook salmon, also known as king salmon. The iconic fish helps sustain many Pacific Coast fishing communities.
A marine scientist with California’s fish and wildlife agency says commercial catches have so far surpassed official preseason forecasts by roughly 50%.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at Business Insider
West Coast Salmon Vulnerable to Climate Change, but Some Show Resilience to Shifting Environment
July 26, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Species-specific results are available for each population group.
Authors noted that salmon have long thrived in the region, proving themselves resilient to past shifts in climate. However, climate is now changing at an unprecedented rate. Most populations now lack access to habitat that once provided refuge from climate extremes.
“Salmon have always adapted to change, and they have been very successful—otherwise they wouldn’t still be here,” said Lisa Crozier, a research scientist at NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the assessment. “What we are trying to understand is which populations may need the most help with anticipated future changes in temperature and water availability, and what steps we can take to support them.”
California coasts recovering, but more marine heatwaves like ‘The Blob’ expected
July 26, 2019 — The effects of the marine heatwave off the California coast from 2014 to 2016, better known as The Blob, that led to a decrease in Chinook salmon and virtually shut down the Dungeness crab industry are finally starting to wear off.
The heatwave led to major shifts in the marine ecosystem, with species of fish migrating to different regions where the temperature was more favorable. It caused declines in certain species and increases in others. A type of algae that produces the neurotoxin domoic acid also outcompeted other forms of algae, leading to huge blooms that poisoned a variety of sea life, such as Dungeness crab.
“It wasn’t about (a lack of) abundance,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “It was about destabilized ecosystems.”
The ecosystem is still recovering from the marine heatwave, slowly cooling down, but conditions are improving enough to have led to a 12.3% increase in West Coast fishery revenues, primarily “driven by Pacific hake, Dungeness crab and market squid,” according to the 2019 California Current Ecosystem Status Report prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Jennifer Gilden, the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s staff officer for outreach, habitat and legislation, said the ocean conditions are improving, though the Chinook salmon population has yet to fully recover.
“This year won’t be great,” Gilden said, “but conditions will be improving over the next few years.”
ALASKA: ADFG receives barest of cuts among Dunleavy’s vetoes
July 18, 2019 — Fisheries fared better than most in terms of Gov. Michael J. Dunleavy’s budget cuts.
Just less than $1 million was cut from the commercial fisheries division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, leaving it with an $85 million budget, half from state general funds.
“To give the governor credit, he recognized the return on investment,” said ADFG Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang. “It’s a theme I had all the way through the Legislature that we take a $200 million budget of which about $50 million is unrestricted general funds and we turn that into an $11 billion return to our state. And I think he got that.”
Vincent-Lang added that Dunleavy also did not veto the travel budget for the Board of Fisheries and its advisory committees.
It’s indefinite still how the budget cuts will play out, and Vincent-Lang said he is trying to avoid staff cuts to the 700 comfish positions.
“I suspect we may have some but we will try to do that through vacancies and a variety of other things as we have retirements,” he said.
Also set to get axed is funding for research projects, such as salmon in-season sampling and Tanner crab surveys at Prince William Sound, and five salmon weirs at Kodiak and Chignik. Salmon counting is likely to be reduced at the Yukon River’s Eagle and Pilot Station sonars, along with various stock assessment surveys for groundfish.
“I’ve asked my staff to look at their overall program, and not necessarily cut the projects, but take the ones that have the least impact on the management of our fisheries across our state in terms of economic value back and cut those,” he explained, acknowledging that the cutbacks could lead to more cautious management.
Study on salmon ear stones cited by EPA in Pebble draft EIS comments
July 9, 2019 — On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency released its formal comment on the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Pebble Mine.
The 100-page release pointed to a bevy of environmental studies that highlight potential harm to land, water and animals in the Bristol Bay region — consequences that the EPA claims were not fully considered in the draft EIS from the Army Corps of Engineers.
One of those studies focused on the growth and development of young salmon in a region with the largest wild sockeye run in the world.
One of the study’s co-authors, Daniel Schindler, said his findings show that the waters where young sockeye and Chinook salmon grow and develop can shift from year to year. Essentially, even rivers and streams that don’t serve as homes for young fish now, may do just that in the future.
“Certain parts of the habitat do well in some years,” Schindler said. “And other parts of the habitat do better in other years. So it’s really the intact nature of the whole Nushagak watershed that produces such reliable returns to the fishery.”
Scientists studying effects of hatchery-raised salmon on wild salmon
July 9, 2019 — Tens of millions of salmon spawned and raised in hatcheries are released into waterways like the Columbia River every year.
The goal is to increase the numbers of the endangered fish. It is no doubt an important effort. But some wonder if this tinkering with Mother Nature could be harming wild salmon.
Scientists with NOAA Fisheries spent the first part of the summer along the Columbia River in Kalama and are hoping to answer that question.
They collected samples of juvenile chinook salmon. Some were wild, spawned in natural waterways. Others were spawned in hatcheries like Fallert Creek, just a few miles up the Kalama River.
In May, the hatchery released close to two million juvenile salmon into the area.
So, why are these scientists now scooping some of them up?
“With the input of all the hatchery fish coming in, we’re not quite sure where that leaves the wild stocks,” said Regan McNatte, a NOAA Research Fisheries biologist.
Simply put, they want to find out once and for all if the hatchery-raised fish are hurting the wild salmon in this area by competing too much with them for things like food and habitat.
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