Saving Seafood

WASHINGTON: Washington crabbers hope for a December start

November 19, 2025 — As crews along Washington’s coast splice rope, paint buoys, and stack their pots, the region’s commercial crab fleet is once again preparing for what the Chinook Observer calls the most prized fishery in the Pacific Northwest. According to an article published by the Observer on Nov. 16, the official start to the 2025 Washington commercial Dungeness crab season could come as early as Dec. 1 if the preseason test results for meat recovery and domoic acid meet the criteria.

The first round of tests delivered mixed results. Long Beach came close, but at 20.9 percent recovery on Nov. 3, it fell just shy of the 23 percent threshold required along the Washington and north Oregon Coasts. Other major test sites performed well above the cutoff: Astoria at 26.4 percent, Westport at 25 percent, and Garibaldi at 27.1 percent.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Experts Euthanize Oregon Humpback Whale After Unsuccessful Attempt to Free it from Beach

November 19, 2025 — On November 17, veterinarians from the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network euthanized a young humpback whale stranded north of Yachats, Oregon, after an unsuccessful attempt to free it. The whale was entangled in gear when it first stranded on November 15. NOAA Fisheries attributed the gear to the 2023–2024 Oregon commercial Dungeness crab fishery.

Teams of trained responders from Portland and Seattle arrived November 16 and assessed the overall condition of the whale. They set up a rope and pulley system to try to free it from the beach at high tide the following morning. However, the attempt was unsuccessful.

While the whale remained alive, experts determined that euthanasia was the most humane option for this case. The prolonged period of time onshore had left the whale weak and unlikely to survive. Veterinarians euthanized the whale late afternoon on November 17. Responders will conduct a necropsy to assess the animal’s overall health and help determine why it stranded.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Oregon takes salmon protections back to court after Trump-era reversal

October 20, 2025 — Oregon and environmental groups filed an emergency injunction in federal court Tuesday seeking to restore protections for Columbia River salmon after the Trump administration reversed a 2023 agreement aimed at helping the fish population recover.

The State of Oregon, along with organizations including the National Wildlife Federation, filed the preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court, arguing the Trump administration’s reversal of the previous agreement puts salmon at risk of extinction.

Read the full article at KTVB

Oregon, environmental groups ask courts to help Columbia Basin fish

October 15, 2025 — Environmental groups and the state of Oregon asked a judge Tuesday to OK a suite of changes to dam operations in the Columbia Basin to reduce harm to endangered salmon and steelhead.

The requests are the first major development in a decadeslong legal battle in the basin since the Trump administration blew up a 2023 agreement that had provided a path to dam removal on the lower Snake River.

Read the full article at Tri-City Herald

Early signs point to salmon returning one year after Klamath dam removal

October 13, 2025 — Researchers said there are promising signs for salmon populations in the Lower Klamath River — including the emergence of “football”-shaped fish — in the wake of the nation’s largest-ever dam removal.

Environmentalists and tribal officials Thursday marked one year since the elimination of four dams along the river in Northern California and southern Oregon.

While it remains too early to evaluate whether fish populations — which have a three-year life cycle — are rebounding, researchers said salmon and other species are being recorded swimming in portions of the river that have been blocked for more than a century.

Read the full article at E&E News

Oregon State recognized with national engagement award for efforts to reduce whale entanglement

August 27, 2025 — A collaborative research and outreach effort led by Oregon State University to protect whales and sustain Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery has been recognized as one of four regional winners of the 2025 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award.

The Oregon whale entanglement project, a transdisciplinary team led by Leigh Torres, researcher in OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute and Oregon Sea Grant Extension marine mammals specialist, now advances to the national stage, where it will compete for the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award and a $20,000 grand prize to further its work.

This is the second consecutive year OSU has received a Kellogg regional award and the third time in the university’s history.

“We are beyond excited when faculty like Dr. Leigh Torres get national recognition for their engaged scholarship,” said Marina Denny, associate vice provost for engagement in the OSU Division of Extension and Engagement. “This honor reflects the strength of OSU’s partnerships with our Oregon coastal communities and our shared commitment to environmental stewardship and economic resilience.”

Read the full article at Oregon State University

Environmentalists fail to prove Oregon dam kills coho salmon

August 22, 2025 — While a controversial southern Oregon dam may delay the migration of a threatened species of salmon, the impact isn’t significant enough to violate federal environmental laws, a federal judge in Portland ruled on Thursday.

“This court concludes that plaintiffs have not proven by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant is liable for ‘take’ of Oregon Coast coho salmon under the Endangered Species Act,” U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut wrote in the 35-page findings of fact and conclusions of law.

A coalition of environmental conservation groups and fisheries organizations led by WaterWatch of Oregon sued the Winchester Water Control District in 2020, accusing the district of violating the Endangered Species Act through its operation of the Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River. The groups argued the dam causes illegal take of Oregon Coast coho salmon by blocking access to spawning habitat and attracting fish to impassable areas of the dams with leaks.

“This is a disappointing decision, but it doesn’t change the fact that coho salmon are listed under the Endangered Species Act and Winchester Dam needs to come out,” Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch’s southern Oregon program director, said in a statement. “It’s a flawed and outdated dam and the court recognized the dam has significant issues. Our campaign to remove the dam continues.”

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

Trump revokes agreement to protect salmon

July 28, 2025 —A September 2023 presidential memorandum of understanding (MOU) from the Biden administration called for the elimination of four Snake River dams that the MOU said contributed to the near extinction of 13 salmon and steelhead fish populations that return each year to the Columbia Basin from the Pacific Ocean to spawn.

Supporters of the Biden MOU say the fish are important to local tribal health and sovereignty and to basin ecosystems, and the declines are affecting southern resident orcas off the coasts of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. The orcas eat the salmon.

The 2023 agreement was between the federal government and four Lower Columbia River tribes — Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe, as well as the states of Oregon and Washington. The tribes want the dams removed.

Opponents argue that the dams support river navigation for maritime barge operations, passenger vessels, irrigation, and emissions-free hydropower for nearby communities and should be maintained.

Read the full article at WorkBoat

OREGON: Oregon seeks public input on endangered orca management strategy

July 25, 2025 — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking feedback on its draft Endangered Species Management Plan for Southern Resident Orcas.

The agency presented its findings and how it plans to support the endangered species during a virtual meeting on July 9, and is currently accepting comments through Aug. 15.

ODFW’s draft plan includes continuing to work to restore healthy salmon populations, protect orcas from development in Oregon waters, and focus on education efforts. In addition, the proposal includes new plans to increase salmon hatchery production, explore the possibility of regulations for boaters, and additional data collection efforts.

Read the full article at KOIN

Marine heatwaves impact maturation of black rockfish

July 24, 2025 — A newly released study by Oregon State University and NOAA Fisheries researchers shows that marine heat waves in increasing frequency are having an impact on the growth and maturation of black rockfish in Oregon and Washington.

“We do know that the occurrence of marine heatwaves is more often and more intense,” said Claire Rosemond, now a fisheries biologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Newport, Ore. “There are some monitored ocean indicators that can help us understand if the coming year would be warmer or cooler, but it is harder to predict how hot or how cold.”

Results of her dissertation while at OSU with fisheries biologist Melissa Head, also of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and Scott Heppell, a professor at OSU ‘s Department of Fisheries Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, were published on June 3 in the journal Ecological Applications.

The study investigated the impact of intense and less intense marine heatwaves on black rockfish reproduction and growth along the Pacific Coast between 2014 and 2021.
They found that while black rockfish exhibited elevated growth during intense marine heatwaves, their maturation was delayed. In fact, during intense marine heatwaves, maturation was postponed, reproductive success was lower by one third, and parasite prevalence in ovaries was nominally high.

Younger females were large at age during intense marine heatwaves, and throughout the last decade, growth rate coefficients were higher than what is typically expected for slower-growing fishes like rockfishes.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman