Unlimited Salmon / Steelhead News Update...

[Woolly Bugger]

More than 17 million salmon will be released into San Francisco bay in massive bid to save species

>>>conic Chinook salmon need cold running water to survive. They hatch in rivers, then migrate to the sea to mature. After a couple of years, they swim back to where life began to reproduce, or spawn. But this year, studies show fish born in the wild will likely die.

"Survival has been shown to be very dependent on temperature as well as flow. And the temperatures that we're seeing now are anticipated to have pretty low survival for fish that are released in the river," environmental scientist Jason Julienne told CBS News' Jonathan Vigliotti.

That's why hatcheries are jumping with activity. To save the species, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has launched a massive operation which includes 700,000 juvenile salmon being sucked up by a tube and put into one of seven tankers. The fish are hitching a ride inside 146 trucks, traveling more than 100 miles to the Pacific. In all, more than 17 million salmon will be released into the San Francisco Bay. Nothing about this is natural, but it's their best chance for survival.

John McManus heads up an association of fishermen who advocate for salmon and ecosystem protections. He said the efforts being made to move the salmon bring a glimmer of hope.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salmon-population-california/

Interesting video in the link...

[Woolly Bugger]

Outdoors in Maine: Is the high cost of Atlantic salmon recovery worth it?
How much is enough? When do we stop trying? What can be done? V. Paul Reynolds writes that the recovery of a river in Great Britain might be a good example for Maine to follow.

>>>According to the Atlantic Salmon Federation, "The recovery plan itself estimates that it could take up to 75 years, or 15 generations, for salmon to meet the recovery criteria and be removed from the endangered species list. The plan also estimates that an additional $24.6 million per year (beyond the current $8.6 million in federal funding) will be necessary to implement priority recovery actions between 2019 and 2023. After that, the plan estimates it could take several hundred million dollars over the next 75 years to address the major threats and recover the species."


https://www.sunjournal.com/2021/06/19/outdoors-in-maine-is-the-high-cost-of-atlantic-salmon-recovery-worth-it/

my bold...

[Woolly Bugger]

Work at Big Bar slide site means Fraser River salmon should have better chance this year
Social Sharing

It's been 2 years since the discovery of major landslide that blocked the Fraser River to migrating salmon


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/work-at-big-bar-slide-site-means-fraser-river-salmon-should-have-better-chance-this-year-1.6076838

[Woolly Bugger]

Pacific salmon recovery report gives 32 recommendations to reverse salmon declines
Report caps an investigation into B.C.'s declining salmon populations


Reversing the complex decline of Pacific salmon will take research, resources, leadership and collaboration, according to a new parliamentary report.

The report, tabled in the House of Commons on June 21 by Fleetwood-Port Kells MP Ken Hardie, caps an investigation into B.C.'s declining salmon populations by Canada's Standing Committee on Fisheries & Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Concern over B.C.'s salmon is not new, with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) launching the Salmonid Enhancement Program in 1977 and 20 federal and provincial inquiries held over the past two decades.


But decreasing catches and low returns over the last few years — less than one per cent in some conservation units — have raised alarm, particularly for chinook and sockeye salmon in the Fraser River System.

https://www.agassizharrisonobserver.com/news/pacific-salmon-recovery-report-gives-32-recommendations-to-reverse-salmon-declines/#

[Woolly Bugger]

How to bring back steelhead trout to the L.A. River
The L.A. River is too shallow, flows to quickly and presents several other challenges for steelhead trout

>>>Steelhead trout used to swim up and down the L.A. River. Downstream to the salty Pacific Ocean to grow and live, then upstream toward the cold fresh waters of the San Gabriel Mountains to spawn. Back and forth, north and south, from the beginning of recorded history until 1940.

That's the last recorded time that a steelhead trout was caught there.

And now, after more than 80 years, the city is trying to bring the trout back to the L.A. River.

https://www.theeastsiderla.com/news/los_angeles_river/how-to-bring-back-steelhead-trout-to-the-l-a-river/article_01c602a4-d632-11eb-8e2f-c383590f6e83.html

[Woolly Bugger]

Canada to Close Nearly 60% of Commercial Pacific Salmon Fisheries in Effort to Protect Species

Canada's Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan announced significant commercial salmon closures for the 2020 season.

The aim of the move is to reduce pressure on Pacific salmon stocks and will be included in the 2021-22 Pacific Salmon Integrated Fisheries Management Plan. The closures will impact Commercial salmon fisheries and First Nations Communal Commercial fisheries.

In all, the closures will result in closures to nearly 60 percent of commercial salmon fisheries for the 2021 season.

https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1202428/Canada-to-Close-Nearly-60-percent-of-Commercial-Pacific-Salmon-Fisheries-in-Effort-to-Protect-Species

[Woolly Bugger]

Kennebec River rescue highlights challenges of protecting endangered Atlantic salmon

>>>A recent event on the Kennebec River in Waterville was evidence of the challenges the fish face and the extent of efforts made to assist them.

On June 15, some Atlantic salmon became stranded below the Lockwood Dam, one of four hydroelectric projects located on the Kennebec owned by Brookfield Renewable U.S.








https://bangordailynews.com/2021/07/01/outdoors/kennebec-river-rescue-highlights-challenges-of-protecting-endangered-atlantic-salmon/

[Woolly Bugger]

Hatcheries can't save Snake River salmon and steelhead

>>>In the mid-20th century heyday of large dam construction, when fishing interests worried about the impacts on migratory salmon and steelhead populations, dam boosters offered up hatcheries as a solution. The pitch was simple: we can build dams and enjoy the benefits they provide, and the hatcheries will sustain the fisheries. It was an alluring win-win proposition that proved persuasive at the time.   

Today, there are many so-called "mitigation hatcheries" in the Snake River basin that are intended to produce enough salmon and steelhead to make up for the wild fish that were lost when their habitat was blocked by dams. Roughly 33 million juvenile salmon and steelhead are released from Snake River hatcheries every year, including more than 15 million spring/summer chinook and 10 million summer steelhead.   

That's a lot of fish.

But the ultimate purpose of mitigation hatcheries is not simply to produce juvenile fish. It is to have adult salmon and steelhead return to support fisheries, including treaty-based fisheries for tribes that have been sustained by salmon and steelhead for millennia. 

https://www.tu.org/magazine/conservation/barriers/hatcheries-cant-save-snake-river-salmon-and-steelhead/

[Woolly Bugger]

Officials warn heat wave could kill nearly all young endangered salmon in Sacramento River

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/563120-officials-warn-heat-wave-could-kill-nearly-all-young-endangered

[Woolly Bugger]

Federal judge orders sweeping changes to Oregon dams to help salmon runs

>>>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must make immediate, sweeping changes to 13 Oregon dams to better preserve salmon runs, a federal judge has ruled.

Each of the hydropower dams standing on the Willamette Valley's North Santiam River were built by the Flood Control Act of 1938 between the 1940s and 1960s. The structures long have been blamed by environmental groups for impeding Chinook salmon and steelhead runs.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was sued earlier this year by environmental groups, including the Native Fish Society. They allege the Corps failed to meet the terms of its 2008 biological opinion or legal settlement with the National Marine Fisheries Service Corps to better accommodate local salmon runs.

https://www.bluemountaineagle.com/news/state/federal-judge-orders-sweeping-changes-to-oregon-dams-to-help-salmon-runs/article_24315d91-cc76-5ea6-84c1-986918ee7f4f.html

[Woolly Bugger]

California's Salmon in Upstream Battle Against Drought
The prized fish already face numerous hurdles in wet years, but in times of drought their fortunes are even more tenuous

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/californias-salmon-in-upstream-battle-against-drought/2601419/

[Woolly Bugger]

Outlander river project aiming to clear a path to bring wild salmon back to the area

Up to 90 percent of the river is unaccessible by salmon and sea trout at any one time, experts say


Preston Mill was featured in Outlander (Image: Richard Webb)

The mill and its waterwheel featured prominently in the first series of the American cable show which found international fame for its stars and put the East Lothian location on the international map.

Now work is underway to remove Knowes Weir, less than a mile from the famous landmark, which is 40 metres wide and diverted water to Knowes Mill.


https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/outlander-river-project-aiming-clear-21109669

[Woolly Bugger]

Groups urge state to protect last wild Atlantic salmon in US

>>>Getting the fish listed on the Maine endangered list has long been a goal of many environmental groups. The Maine Endangered Species Act includes 26 endangered species and 25 threatened ones. The list includes two fish: the endangered redfin pickerel and the threatened swamp darter.

The list is designed to provide state-level protection to jeopardized species and is a complement to the U.S. Endangered Species Act. A few species, including the piping plover, are listed on both.


https://www.westport-news.com/news/article/Groups-urge-state-to-protect-last-wild-Atlantic-16337032.php

[Woolly Bugger]

WATCH: British actors Robson Green and Jim Murray highlight work done in Moray Firth to conserve salmon

>>>A conservation group's aim to understand the reasons behind the marked decline in salmon numbers has received the support of British actors Robson Green and Jim Murray.

The two ambassadors for the Missing Salmon Alliance's member organisation, the Atlantic Salmon Trust, have set out on a road trip across Scotland to highlight the numerous efforts to get to the bottom of the mystery behind Atlantic salmon's decline.

That decline in wild Atlantic salmon populations has seen their numbers decrease by 70 per cent in the last 25 years.

The issues effect salmon in all stages of their life journey, from the rivers to their time out at sea. As recently as the mid 1960s, of salmon departing to their feeding grounds in the North, Celtic and Icelandic seas, a steady 35 per cent could be expected to return. Now, in 2020, that number is less than three per cent.

Green and Murray's titular Roadtrip to Discovery, focused on the efforts of both the Moray Firth, and West Coast tracking projects.




https://www.grampianonline.co.uk/news/watch-british-actors-robson-green-and-jim-murray-highlight-245351/

[Woolly Bugger]

Call for unity to breach Snake River dams and restore salmon to preserve our heritage

The essence of being an Idahoan and, in my case, a member of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes of Idaho, centers around our recognizing the importance of the land we live on, air we breathe, water we drink and food we eat. Among the most precious childhood memories and treasured traditions we hold dear is learning how to fish for salmon along the banks of our pristine Snake River. Yet our children and grandchildren's ability to carry out our fishing legacy is at risk due to the decimated populations and endangered status of steelhead and salmon.

https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article253029473.html