Saving Seafood

Lawsuit targets Alaska salmon management to protect southern killer whales

January 27, 2020 — A conservation organization based in Washington state is threatening to sue the federal government over the management of Alaska’s chinook salmon fisheries.

The Wild Fish Conservancy claims that management strategies in Alaska approved by the government pose a threat to the survival of several salmon runs in Washington, and the killer whales who depend on them.

The Wild Fish Conservancy filed notice on January 9, stating its intentions to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service for violating the Endangered Species Act, and jeopardizing the existence of southern resident killer whales.

The Conservancy argues that an important food supply of the whales — endangered stocks of chinook salmon originating in Puget Sound, the lower Columbia River, the Willamette River, and Snake River — is being depleted by the commercial troll and sport harvest in Southeast Alaska.

Kurt Beardslee is the director of the Wild Fish Conservancy. Chinook — or king salmon — are managed under treaty between the United States and Canada, overseen by the Pacific Salmon Commission.

Read the full story at KNBA

Cooke Aquaculture approved to farm steelhead trout in Washington

January 23, 2020 — The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WSDFW) has approved a five-year permit for Cooke Aquaculture to farm steelhead trout in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, according to The Seattle Times.

In March 2018, Washington state’s legislature voted to phase out the farming of non-native finfish after some 500,000 Atlantic salmon escaped from a Cooke farm near Cypress Island the previous year.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Offshore wind energy watchdogs expanding to West Coast

January 17, 2020 — A fishing industry coalition dealing with offshore wind energy development has launched a West Coast venture, as a first step toward giving Pacific fishermen more voice in how those projects can be compatible with seafood production.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance announced it created a new Pacific Advisory Committee, to address Pacific fishermen’s “significant concern over the lack of communication and collaboration necessary to inform coexistence among ocean users.”

The new effort aims to “improve science and policy approaches to development, while also increasing and improving communication to help strengthen ties between Pacific fishermen and fishing communities across the country,” the alliance said in a statement Thursday.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

A blob of hot water in the Pacific Ocean killed a million seabirds, scientists say

January 16, 2020 — As many as one million seabirds died at sea in less than 12 months in one of the largest mass die-offs in recorded history — and researchers say warm ocean waters are to blame.

The birds, a fish-eating species called the common murre, were severely emaciated and appeared to have died of starvation between the summer of 2015 and the spring of 2016, washing up along North America’s west coast, from California to Alaska.

Now, scientists say they know what caused it: a huge section of warm ocean water in the northeast Pacific Ocean dubbed “the Blob.”

A years-long severe marine heat wave first began in 2013, and intensified during the summer of 2015 due to a powerful weather phenomenon called El Nino, which lasted through 2016.

The heat wave created the Blob — a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) stretch of ocean that was warmed by 3 to 6 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 10.8 Fahrenheit). A high-pressure ridge calmed the ocean waters — meaning heat stays in the water, without storms to help cool it down.

Read the full story at CNN

New Year Brings New Protections For West Coast Seafloor Habitat

January 2, 2020 — Along with the new year, the West Coast is getting new protections for corals and sponges that live on the seafloor.

Regulations starting Jan. 1 restrict bottom trawl fishing on about 90% of the seafloor off Oregon, Washington and California.

Bottom trawlers drag weighted nets along the seafloor to catch dozens of groundfish species, including lingcod, Dover and petrale sole and all kinds of rockfish. In the process, they can damage corals and sponges that live on the ground.

Ashley Blaco-Draeger with the environmental group Oceana said corals and sponges don’t recover easily from the damage because they grow very slowly.

“They only grow about a millimeter a year,” she said. “So once these structures are destroyed it can take hundreds or thousands of years for them to recover — if ever.”

Read the full story at OPB

Chinook salmon are getting smaller, and researchers say killer whales may be to blame

December 31, 2019 — Chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, are getting smaller, and a team of scientists at the University of Washington think they know why. A new study says killer whales might be behind Chinook’s declining size.

Chinook salmon are an important part of life in Southeast Alaska. Part of the prized fish’s value is its size. Chinook are the largest Pacific salmon.

But in the last two years, returns have been low. Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg all saw their king salmon derbies cancelled in 2018 and 2019. And forecasts for 2020 don’t look much better.

But it’s not just their numbers that are declining.

University of Washington researcher Jan Ohlberger published a paper last year that shows Chinook are getting smaller, too. Up to 10 percent smaller.

That discovery intrigued the researcher.

“The question is, what is the cause of that?” said Ohlberger in a recent phone interview.

A causal claim is difficult to make. Correlation, of course, doesn’t always imply causation.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Washington bass, walleye fishing limits liberalized in response to orca crisis

December 30, 2019 — Limits on bass and walleye fishing — alongside other warmwater species — were liberalized by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission on Saturday.

New rules, going into effect mid-February, remove size limits and daily limits on rivers and streams throughout the state.

The rules also double the daily limits for most species on 77 lakes throughout Washington, said Steve Caromile, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s warmwater fish program manager.

The changes are in response to new legislation aimed at increasing chinook survival in hopes of helping struggling orca populations in the Puget Sound.

Bass and walleye eat salmon smolts, although to what extent they impact the migrating fish is disputed.

Initially, WDFW officials proposed removing bag limits statewide, but the commission directed them to narrow their proposal.

Read the full story at The Union-Bulletin

Studies give insight on plight of orca whales

December 30, 2019 — Two studies and a state report released this month build on the efforts to understand what’s impacting the region’s endangered Southern Resident orca whales and what steps could be taken to help save them.

Researchers and wildlife managers have for years suggested that the Southern Resident orcas, which spend several months of the year in the Salish Sea and coastal waters of Washington, are struggling to find large, nutrient-rich chinook salmon to eat.

Studies recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggest the Southern Resident orcas are competing with other fish-eating orca populations of the North Pacific Ocean and that orca calves born to families without grandmothers have a lesser chance of finding chinook to eat and surviving to adulthood.

Meanwhile, a draft state report released Dec. 20 concludes it’s not clear whether a move long called for by environment and wildlife groups – to remove dams on the lower Snake River – would significantly boost the number of fish available to the region’s orcas.

Removing four dams on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, where it curves from the Idaho border toward the Oregon border, could improve conditions in the river system for salmon, according to the report.

Read the full story at The Spokesman-Review

NPFMC Meets Jan 27-Feb 2 in Seattle

December 30, 2019 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The NPFMC will meet January 27 – February 2, 2020, at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle. The AGENDA and SCHEDULE are now available. If you’re planning a flight, you can use the EasyBiz Discount Code: ECMC935. You can submit and review comments through each Agenda Item and the deadline for comments is Friday, January 24, 2020, at 12:00 pm (Alaska time).

$26 million granted to Washington salmon recovery projects

December 20, 2019 — The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board (WSRFB) announced Monday over $26 million in grants for projects across Washington that aim to help revive salmon populations, which have long been in decline due to developmental infrastructure that ignores them.

Twenty-eight of the state’s 39 counties will receive the funds distributed across 96 projects.

Investments will be targeted to remove barriers that prevent salmon from migrating, increase available salmon habitats and conserve important ecological areas surrounding them.

Projects are selected in collaboration with local watershed-based groups including tribes, local governments, nonprofits and citizens. They are designed to fit community priorities while addressing state and federal issues surrounding salmon ecology.

Jefferson County will receive the largest donation, with more than $3 million for the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement group to remove and replace the U.S. Route 101 causeway and related projects.

Skagit County will receive the second largest grant in western Washington at $1,952,176, and King County will receive $1,536,826.

Read the full story at KING 5