Washington Archives - Page 39 of 59

Orcas thrive in a land to the north. Why are Puget Sound’s dying?

November 16, 2018 — Bigger and bigger, with a puff and a blow, the orca surfaces, supreme in his kingdom of green.

Northern resident orcas like this one live primarily in the cleaner, quieter waters of northern Vancouver Island and Southeast Alaska, where there also are more fish to eat. They are the same animal as the southern residents that frequent Puget Sound, eating the same diet, and even sharing some of the same waters. They have similar family bonds and culture.

The difference between them is us.

Read the full story at the Bristol Herald Courier

US Senate votes to free Fishermen’s Finest from Jones Act purgatory

November 15, 2018 — It’s been years since Kirkland, Washington-based commercial harvester Fishermen’s Finest commissioned Dakota Creek Industries, in nearby Anacortes, at a cost of $74 million, to build it a new, 264-foot catcher processor to work the seas of Alaska. To both companies’ misfortunes, the vessel was constructed with more than 7% of its steel coming from the Netherlands, a violation of the 1920 Jones Act, which allows vessels to contain no more than 1.5% foreign steel.

After Wednesday’s vote by the US Senate, however, that vessel – America’s Finest – is just one step away from being freed from its moors and able to do its job.

The upper chamber voted 94-6 to pass S. 140, a bill used as a vehicle to reauthorize the US Coast Guard. Most importantly, tucked deep inside the bill, in section 835, is a provision fought for by senator Maria Cantwell, a state of Washington Democrat, that would provide an exemption to the Jones Act for Fishermen’s Finest.

“I’m a very strong supporter of the Jones Act and believe it is important that we continue to have the Jones Act in the future,” Cantwell said after the vote. “I also believe that we were able to work with a solution to save good family-wage jobs at the Dakota Creek Shipyard and appreciate my colleagues working on the incorporation of that language.”

Five of the six senators to vote against the bill were Democrats: Ben Cardin (Maryland), Kirstin Gillibrand (New York), Kamala Harris (California), Chuck Schumer (New York) and Chris Van Hollen (Maryland), Independent Bernie Sanders was also a “nay” vote.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Industry, agencies working to avoid whale entanglements

November 14, 2018 — LONG BEACH, Calif. — Whale entanglements off the West Coast and potential solutions to the escalating problem are the focus of a new report including the presentations and observations of fishermen, biologists and fisheries managers who gathered at an August workshop.

In recent years, growing populations of humpback and gray whales, changing ocean conditions and prey locations, and later crab season openings have led to more whales getting entangled in fishing gear, such as the ropes and floats that mark the location of crab pots. In 2017 there were 31 confirmed entanglements off the West Coast, including two humpbacks and a gray whale off the Washington coast, according to a press release from NOAA Fisheries. While NOAA concedes these entanglements are still proportionally rare, they sometimes lead to the deaths of entangled whales, so both fishermen and fisheries managers are seeking solutions.

To understand how and where rope and other gear entangles whales and to find ways to address the problem, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) and NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region convened a two-day workshop in Long Beach, California, in August. This “forensic workshop” was also supported by The Marine Mammal Commission, Oregon Sea Grant, and the Aquarium of the Pacific. The report from the workshop is now available at tinyurl.com/whale-entanglement-report.

The report provides the notes and presentations from the 31 California, Oregon, and Washington experts who attended. Participating were Dungeness crab fishermen; gear specialists; marine mammal biologists and disentanglement specialists; conservation groups; and federal, tribal and state agency representatives.

Read the full story at the Chinook Observer

Less whale tours, dams: Washington task force returns with guidance on Tuesday

November 13, 2018 — Gov. Jay Inslee first assembled the group in March, inviting representatives from tribal, federal, local and other state governments, as well the private and non-profit sectors, to come together and develop longer-term action recommendations for orca recovery and future sustainability.

The task force’s main goals were to reduce the harm of the three main challenges facing orcas: pollution; lack of access to their primary prey, the chinook salmon; and boat traffic noise.

And though it’s only been about six months since Gov. Jay Inslee created a task force to draw up some guidelines about how to help the local Southern Resident orca population, it feels like a different world for the whales.

The pods had a rocky summer, starting with the latest census data showing that their population had dipped to a 30-year low, having lost 25 percent of the local orcas since the 1990s. Shortly after that, Tahlequah made headlines around the world when she swam with the body of dead calf for a week, covering 1,000 miles.

Later in the summer, the youngest member of the J-pod fell ill. Despite many researchers attempting to help get her back up to fighting weight, her disappearance and assumed death marked another disheartening chapter to the summer of the Southern Residents.

It’s especially discouraging considering that the outlook is a lot sunnier up north — the Northern Resident orca population has doubled since 1974, to a total of 309.

But the end of the summer brings a few bright spots: Multiple Southern Residents appear to be pregnant, and the task force’s guidelines are finally being filed.

“I look at 2018, and I hope this is the low point,” Barry Thom, regional administrator for NOAA fisheries West Coast Region, said a hearing regarding the orcas in Friday Harbor earlier this year. “The clock is running out on killer whale recovery, and it is heart wrenching to see.”

Draft recommendations released for public comment include significantly increasing investment in restoration and acquisition of habitat in areas where chinook salmon stocks most benefit Southern Resident orcas, immediately funding acquisition and restoration of nearshore habitat to increase the abundance of forage fish for salmon, and determine whether the removal of some dams would provide benefits to the Southern Resident orca population.

Read the full story at SeattlePI

Monterey Bay campaign targets new lawmakers, but MSA bill not only focus

November 2, 2018 — The Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of multiple ocean conservation groups opposed to a bill that would update the Magnuson Stevens Act (MSA), won’t waste any time in its efforts to influence new US members of Congress. It has launched a chefs-oriented campaign intended to begin reaching lawmakers the day after the Nov. 6 election, Undercurrent News has learned.

The advocacy group, which runs the Seafood Watch sustainability initiative, held a meeting on Oct. 24 in Portland, Oregon, where it got chefs to discuss, finalize and sign a “Portland Pact for Sustainable Seafood”. The document calls on “the new Congress to prioritize the long-term health of US fish stocks by protecting the strong conservation measures of the [MSA]”, reveals an email sent by Sheila Bowman, Seafood Watch manager of culinary and strategic initiatives, a copy of which was obtained by Undercurrent.

The email requested recipients to sign an attached copy of the document before Nov. 1, joining “other Blue Ribbon Task Force chefs”, but not to share it with anyone until Nov. 7. By signing the letter, the chefs would be agreeing with Monterey Bay Aquarium and its #ChefsForFish campaign that US commercial fishing policy would be best served by:

“Requiring management decisions be science-based;
“Avoiding overfishing with catch limits and tools that hold everyone accountable for the fish that they remove from the ocean; and
“Ensuring the timely recovery of depleted fish stocks.”

“On November 7: We will send another email asking you to help spread the word so that we can gather more chef signatures,” Bowman instructs in her email. “Our hope is to have hundreds of chefs representing all 50 states!”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Brad Warren & Julia Sanders: Washington’s Initiative 1631 will help fight ocean acidification

November 2, 2018 — We write today to announce our support for Washington’s Initiative 1631. As businesses who rely on healthy fisheries for a significant portion of our income, we believe this is a well-designed policy that offers us – and our customers – the best possible chance against an uncertain future fraught with the threats of changing ocean conditions.

It’s become clear that our fisheries need a lifeline. Here in Washington, we are experiencing the worst ocean acidification anywhere in the world. Research has firmly established the cause of this problem: emissions from burning coal, oil and gas mix into the ocean, altering its chemistry. The consequences loomed into headlines a decade ago when the oyster industry lost millions and nearly went out of business during the oyster seed crisis. Temporary and limited adaptation measures in hatcheries are keeping them in business, but in the rest of the oceans, fisheries that put dinner on billions of tables are at risk. Here in the Northwest, harvests are already being eroded and even shut down by the effects of unchecked carbon emissions.

The “warm blob,” an unprecedented marine heatwave off the West Coast, reached its height in 2015 and caused mass fatalities. In the Columbia River, a quarter-million salmon died. The largest recorded toxic algae bloom shut down the Dungeness crab fishery for months. The food web crashed, and marine creatures were spotted farther north than ever before. Sea surface temperatures never returned to their previous norm, and new research indicates another blob is forming.

Summers have become synonymous with a smoky haze from wildfires causing poor visibility and poor health – this summer the National Weather Service warned even healthy adults in some Washington areas to stay indoors due to hazardous air quality. At the same time, our iconic orca whales are starving from a lack of Chinook salmon. The Chinook in turn are suffering from a lack of the zooplankton that juveniles eat.

Research has made it clear that some of our most lucrative fisheries are vulnerable to ocean acidification: king crab, Dungeness crab, and salmon. Scientists also warm that combining stressors – like warming with ocean acidification – makes survival in the ocean all the more precarious.

Read the full op-ed at Seafood Source

Seattle authorities urge US government to take action on Pebble Mine

October 31, 2018 — The city council in Seattle, Washington, has passed a resolution urging the US federal government to protect the Bristol Bay, Alaska, area from the proposed Pebble Mine development.

In the resolution, the council stressed the importance of the industry the Bristol Bay commercial fishing industry brings to the state of Washington’s economy, including sportfishing-related tourism.

Sockeye salmon from Bristol Bay is served in restaurants throughout Washington and is estimated to support roughly 3,100 jobs as well as contribute $550 million to the state’s economy.

“Guests specifically come to Sand Point Grill for our salmon,” said Travis Rosenthal, owner of the Seattle-based Sand Point Grill restaurant and board member of the Seattle Restaurant Alliance, in a press released jointly issued by the SRA and also the Businesses for Bristol Bay (BBB) coalition. “Building a mine of this size in Bristol Bay could be detrimental to such a fragile, special ecosystem. Not to mention other impacts such as keeping Seattle-based fishermen employed and salmon on the plates of Sand Point Grill diners.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

WASHINGTON: Columbia River commercial fishery could hinge on century-old method

October 30, 2018 — A series of nets strung between pilings just off the Columbia River shore may offer a glimpse of the future of commercial fishing in the river, even though it harkens back to the fishing practices of a century ago.

But some gillnetters say that the experimental fish trap, also known as a pound net, is just another unworkable idea for catching salmon that threatens their livelihoods.

One morning last week, researchers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Wild Fish Conservancy worked the fish trap set in the Columbia a few miles upstream of Cathlamet, near Nassa Point.

“There is no other site like this in the lower river,” said Adrian Tuohy, a biologist for the Fish Conservancy. “It’s a great scientific monitoring tool.”

One net blocks adult fish from swimming near the shore, steering them through a series of other nets that trap them. Then workers tug on lines and pulleys to dump the fish into a submerged sorting box about the size of a refrigerator.

Aaron Jorgenson, a biologist for the Fish Conservancy, donned waders and hopped into the box to identify the fish. Tuohy netted hatchery coho and dumped them into a box with ice — those fish are sold to a fish buyer. Wild fish are tagged and allowed to swim upstream. Tiny radio transmitters are implanted so the fish can be tracked as they swim past upstream dams.

Read the full story at The Daily News

Judge rules EPA must protect salmon from rising water temperatures in Washington

October 29, 2018 — A U.S. Federal Court in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. has issued a ruling that is intended to protect salmon and steelhead trout in the Columbia River basin from rising water temperatures.

In the mile-long lakes created by hydropower dams on the rivers, the water temperature has often exceeded 70 degrees Fahrenheit for days at a time, though the Clean Water Act bars the temperature in the river from exceeding 68 degrees. Cold water species such as sockeye and steelhead become stressed at temperatures over 68 degrees and stop migrating when the temperature exceeds 74 degrees.

The ruling instructs the Environmental Protection Agency to protect the species. The EPA will, within 60 days, come up with a “comprehensive plan to deal with dams’ impact on water temperature and salmon survival,” according to Columbia Riverkeeper Executive Director Brett VandenHeuvel, one of the plaintiffs of the case, which was initially filed in February 2017. Other conservation and fishermens’ groups were plaintiffs in the suit as well: Idaho Rivers United, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Snake River Waterkeeper, and The Institute for Fisheries Resources.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Tri Marine to sell California wetfish plant to Silver Bay

October 25, 2018 — Bellevue, Washington-based tuna supplier Tri Marine International will sell its California wetfish processing business to Alaska salmon processor Silver Bay Seafoods, the companies announced.

The deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, includes Tri Marine’s San Pedro processing plant but not an affiliated fleet of vessels. Those vessels, owned by the Tri Marine affiliate Cape Fisheries, will continue to deliver fish to the facility under Silver Bay’s ownership.

Tri Marine said in a press release that the move was made to focus on its core tuna business.

“I’m delighted that we’ve reached an agreement to sell to a highly regarded, strategic and successful company like Silver Bay,” ” Renato Curto, Tri Marine’s chief executive officer, said. “The sale of our California coastal pelagic assets and business will enable Tri Marine to concentrate our efforts and our resources on our core business – global tuna supply.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News