August 13, 2021 — For eight years, Tanya Ives has been traveling up from Washington each summer to work at the Yukon River’s only fish processing plant: Kwik’Pak Fisheries. The plant sits outside of Emmonak at the river’s mouth. Normally at this time of year, Ives would be packing up chum salmon harvested by commercial fishermen along the Yukon River to sell around the world. But this summer, she’s doing the opposite.
Lorraine Loomis, Pacific Northwest Champion for Salmon, Dies at 81
August 13, 2021 — Washington salmon lost one of their best advocates this week with the death of Lorraine Loomis. She was 81.
Loomis was a Swinomish tribal elder, chairperson of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and manager of fisheries for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.
West Coast CARES Act Funding, Spend Plans in Various Stages of Completion
August 13, 2021 — As fishermen and processors in Washington are receiving checks from the first round of COVID-19 relief, managers in California and Oregon are moving ahead with proposed spend plans for Round Two.
Round One funding, announced in May 2020, included $300 million provided by Sec. 12005 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also called the CARES Act, to states, tribes, and territories with coastal and marine fishery participants that were negatively affected by COVID–19.
Critical habitat for killer whales extended south along California coast
August 12, 2021 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has extended critical habitat designations for the highly endangered Southern Resident orca population, to cover nearly 16,000 square miles of Pacific waters from Washington south to Point Sur, California.
The whales currently have had critical habitat protected in the inland waters of Washington state, where the Southern orca population of just 75 animals is highly dependent on chinook salmon – stocks that themselves are in danger from habitat loss and pollution in the region.
Sen. Cantwell Applauds Unprecedented Investment in Puget Sound and Salmon Recovery in Infrastructure Package
August 12, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):
Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) released the following statement about a historic $2.855 billion investment in salmon recovery and ecosystem restoration programs, as well as tens of billions of dollars allocated for water infrastructure in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). (A full description of the infrastructure bill’s impacts on Washington state can be found here.)
“The infrastructure bill makes serious investments in some of our salmon recovery challenges,” said Senator Cantwell. “For the first time, the bill creates a new culvert removal and habitat restoration grant program that prioritizes salmon and will open up spawning habitat. The bill also provides robust funding for EPA regional efforts to clean up Puget Sound as well as a significant down payment in the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.”
The IIJA includes the following salmon and ecosystem restoration funding (all numbers are over 5 years):
- National Culvert Removal, Replacement and Restoration Grant Program: $1 billion for the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a new program aimed at removing, replacing or restoring culverts, which will enable the recovery of salmon passage and habitats. This provision was authored by Senator Cantwell, and this program will be the first federal program devoted entirely to culverts.
- Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund: $172 million for NOAA’s Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, a grants program that provides funding to States and Tribes to protect, conserve, and restore West Coast salmon.
- Fish Passage Barrier Removal Grants: $400 million for the creation of a new community-based restoration program focused on removing fish passage barriers.
- EPA Estuary Programs: The National Estuary Program (NEP) is a network of organizations that protects and restores 28 estuaries around the country, including the Puget Sound and Columbia River Basin.
- $89 million for the Puget Sound Geographic Program.
- $79 million for the Columbia River Basin Geographic Program.
- $132 million for the National Estuary Program.
- $23 billion for the bipartisan Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act, including $15 billion for Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
- $10 billion across multiple programs for monitoring and remediation of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These chemicals enter the environment through production or waste streams and are extremely difficult to remove. According to the EPA, they are known to have “adverse reproductive, developmental and immunological effects in animals and humans.”
- NOAA Habitat Restoration Programs: These funds will be used to enable communities, Tribes, and states to respond and adapt to climate change impacts.
- $491 million for Habitat Restoration and Community Resilience Grants.
- $492 million for the National Ocean and Coastal Security Fund Grants.
- EPA Water Quality Programs: These provisions of the IIJA help improve overall water quality and prevent pollution to protect salmon-supporting ecosystems. The IIJA also includes significant funding for Tribal and rural water systems and would provide funding for stormwater and wastewater systems in Washington state and Puget Sound.
Throughout her time in the Senate, Cantwell has been a staunch advocate of protecting and strengthening critical salmon populations. Earlier this year, Cantwell secured commitments from Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to work on increasing investments in salmon habitat and prioritizing fisheries management. Cantwell also championed and passed the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Phase III Act in 2019, which authorized an integrated and collaborative approach to addressing water challenges in the Yakima River Basin. For years, Cantwell has led the fight to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay – one of the world’s largest fisheries – against the proposed Pebble Mine, emphasizing the devastation that the mine could bring to the Pacific Northwest. In 2020, the permit was denied and now Cantwell is now pushing for permanent protections.
Senator Cantwell also has a strong history of leading efforts in Congress to address water contamination due to PFAS, and she has repeatedly introduced bipartisan legislation to hold federal agencies accountable for addressing PFAS contamination at military bases across the country. In January 2020, Cantwell sent a letter to the Acting Secretary of the Navy expressing concern over PFAS health risks to Kitsap County residents, and in February 2020, she called on the EPA to provide an updated timeline for when it will implement the commitments made in the agency’s plan to combat PFAS exposure. In 2017, Cantwell urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to support programs to investigate and clean up chemicals that have contaminated drinking water sources across the nation and secured $62 million in funding for water remediation and environmental restoration in impacted communities.
Support for salmon recovery and ecosystem restoration in the IIJA:
“The funding for salmon recovery and culvert removal and replacement contained in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a huge win for the resource and the people of the State of Washington,” said Bob Kehoe, Executive Director of the Purse Seine Vessel Owners’ Association’s (PSVOA). “These investments in salmon recovery and fish habitat restoration will go a long way toward the goal of rebuilding salmon populations here on the West Coast. Senator Cantwell deserves a great deal of credit for her leadership in the Senate on salmon recovery.”
“We are very excited to see that the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure legislation will help protect and restore Pacific salmon runs,” said Justin Parker, Executive Director of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. “We all depend on natural infrastructure such as habitat to support salmon recovery, a robust economy and the tribes’ treaty-protected resources. The bill is an important step toward addressing our natural infrastructure needs in Washington through programs such as the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and many others. We are thankful for Senator Cantwell’s leadership and our delegation’s efforts to secure these critical investments.”
“Funding in the infrastructure package for Puget Sound, salmon recovery and fish passage improvements gives us the chance to make significant progress now,” said Laura Blackmore, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership. “We’re seeing the effects of climate change on our environment already. We need funding at a scale to address big issues—like salmon recovery, fish passage, and ecosystem restoration—with urgency. We’re grateful to Senators Cantwell and Murray for their leadership and passion in working to secure funding that helps us meet these challenges.”
“Our lands and waters are part of America’s infrastructure. Like good roads and bridges, healthy watersheds are critical to the safety and well-being of our families and the economic growth of our communities,” said Mike Stevens, Washington State Director for The Nature Conservancy. “This legislation includes game-changing investments in fish passage, community-based habitat restoration, Puget Sound recovery and Pacific salmon habitat restoration. Senator Cantwell was critical to making this bi-partisan package come together in ways that make us all stronger in the face of a changing climate and help us meet our commitments to Tribal nations and overburdened communities. The Nature Conservancy looks forward to working with Senator Cantwell to ensure the legislation makes it to the President’s desk for signature.”
A full description of the infrastructure bill’s impacts on Washington state can be found HERE.
The full text of the infrastructure package is available HERE.
Cooke Aquaculture gets permit to allow stocking of Hope Island farm in Washington
August 6, 2021 — Cooke Aquaculture has received a key permit from the U.S. state of Washington that will allow it to stock its Hope Island farm with rainbow trout.
The permit, issued by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on 5 August, will allow Cooke to stock its Hope Island farm, in Puget Sound’s Skagit Bay, with 365,000 steelhead, also known as rainbow trout. But the facility’s lease expires in March 2022, before the fish will be ready for harvest, meaning the company must either obtain an extension on its lease or move the fish to another site by that time.
Critical habitat for killer whales extended south along California coast
August 6, 2021 — The Biden administration extended critical habitat designations for the highly endangered Southern Resident orca population, to cover nearly 16,000 square miles of Pacific waters from Washington south to Point Sur, Calif.
The whales currently have had critical habitat protected in the inland waters of Washington state, where the Southern orca population of just 75 animals is highly dependent on chinook salmon – stocks that themselves are in danger from habitat loss and pollution in the region.
A final order from NMFS, published in the Aug. 2 Federal Register and taking effect Sept.1, maintains the Puget Sound protected region and extends the critical habitat designation out to the 200-meter (656-foot) sea floor contour.
“This revision is based on over a decade of research that improved our knowledge of Southern Resident killer whales’ geographic range, diet, and habitat needs, including their movements up and down the West Coast,” according to a NMFS announcement.
Expanded Critical Habitat Signals Much of West Coast Contributes to Recovery of Endangered Killer Whales
August 2, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Today we announced that we are expanding designated critical habitat for endangered Southern Resident killer whales. They will now include most coastal waters from Washington to Monterey Bay in California—formerly they encompassed only most of the inland waters of Washington. This designation encompasses waters where we now know that the Southern Residents hunt for salmon from West Coast Rivers and other marine species.
We appreciate the nearly 2,000 comments on our proposal to expand the designated critical habitat. The Endangered Species Act defines critical habitat as areas with “physical or biological features essential to conservation of the species” that may need special protection.
While the expansion of critical habitat recognizes that the whales forage across much of the West Coast, it is unlikely to extensively affect coastal activities, such as fishing. That is because NOAA Fisheries and the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which provides recommendations to NOAA Fisheries on fishing seasons and regulations, already consider killer whales and Chinook salmon when setting salmon harvest quotas. NOAA Fisheries is currently taking comments on a proposal from the Council to limit commercial and recreational fishing in certain areas as far south as Monterey Bay in California in years when salmon returns are expected to be low.
NOAA Fisheries completed a biological opinion on the operation of dams on the Columbia and Snake River in 2020. It considered the potential impacts on Southern Residents and their prey since they have long been known to feed on Columbia and Snake River salmon. The opinion found that hatchery salmon more than make up for any reduction in salmon numbers related to the operation of the dams.
Recent research based on the DNA signatures of West Coast salmon stocks showed that killer whales prey on salmon from a diversity of West Coast Rivers. They span as far south as the Sacramento River and north to Canada and Alaska. Recovery actions for killer whales include:
- Release of additional hatchery fish to supplement their prey
- Extensive habitat restoration to improve natural production of salmon in the longer term
The designation of critical habitat provides an extra layer of protection when a federal agency takes an action that could impact the critical habitat of the whales. It also sends the message that everyone on the West Coast has a role to play in supporting the whales’ recovery.
“While the Southern Residents may be best known in the Pacific Northwest, the whole West Coast can contribute to recovery of the whales and the salmon that they rely on,” said Lynne Barre, recovery coordinator for the Southern Residents. “Regardless of where they are foraging, they feed on a mix of salmon from different West Coast rivers. That means the way we all use water, the way we protect habitat, how we handle our storm runoff—it all makes a difference.”
The newly designated critical habitat includes coastal waters from 6.1 to 200 meters deep with three essential physical and biological features:
- Water quality to support growth and development
- Prey species of sufficient quantity, quality, and availability to support individual growth, reproduction, and development, as well as overall population growth
- Passage conditions to allow for migration, resting, and foraging
There was one notable change from the coastal critical habitat NOAA Fisheries originally proposed in November 2019. This was changed to reduce the excluded buffer area around the excluded Quinault Range Site, which is used by the Navy for various training and testing activities in support of military readiness. The final designation also includes a biological explanation of how human-induced noise impacts the conservation value of the designated critical habitat for endangered Southern Resident killer whales.
Pacific Northwest heat wave causes vibrio bacteria outbreak in oysters
August 2, 2021 — A heat wave that sent temperatures into the triple digits for three days in the U.S. Pacific Northwest in late June and early July drove up levels of the vibrio bacteria in area oysters, causing record numbers of illnesses from the bacteria and prompting oyster recalls.
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) reported 75 lab-confirmed cases of vibriosis as of Wednesday, 29 July, and said there are likely many unreported cases. According to figures provided by DOH, the previous record number of vibriosos cases through 28 July was 48 in 2018.
Washington Hit With Historic Number of Vibrio Infections Following Major Heatwave
July 21, 2021 — The Washington Department of Health (DOH) linked the recent heatwave that left millions of shellfish dead to the historic number of vibrio cases the state has reported in July.
The state said the high temperatures and low tides of late could be the reason behind the increased rate of the disease that is related to consuming raw or undercooked shellfish. Particularly oysters contaminated with Vibrio.
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