West coast salmon recovery

[Goodfish]

Odd that it is Alaska and Cali

I’m really interested in the Klamath dam removals In California . The California fish are not migrating to the same places that that the Columbia River basin fish and Frazier River are and being intercepted by Canada and Alaska. Super interesting to watch and see the long term results. At least someone is trying!

 

[R.K.]

Odd that it is Alaska and Cali

You need to look where the fish spend their years between leaving the river and coming back, and what’s going on there. Plenty escape. Fewer return.

From what I can gather, it’s trawler bycatch that’s doing the most damage. Poorly reported, and numbers intentionally fudged. All in the common summering areas for juvenile salmon of the PNW.

 

[Irrelevant]

You need to look where the fish spend their years between leaving the river and coming back, and what’s going on there. Plenty escape. Fewer return.

From what I can gather, it’s trawler bycatch that’s doing the most damage. Poorly reported, and numbers intentionally fudged. All in the common summering areas for juvenile salmon of the PNW.

And both US and foreign fleets. I would greatly support a tax to fund offshore enforcement.

 

[Goodfish]

And both US and foreign fleets. I would greatly support a tax to fund offshore enforcement.

There was a good episode of Deadliest Catch this summer where they were trying to run down a foreign trawler that was poaching. Unfortunately they didn’t catch him but they burned the net he dumped.

 

[Irrelevant]

Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.

Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.

www.politico.com

 

[Goodfish]

Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.

Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.

www.politico.com

View attachment 284942

Follow the money. The industry funds the “policing agency”. They have been incredibly smart businessmen. They enrolled local indigenous communities into benefiting from the trawler catch at the same time as destroying the resources of others. I think the legal bycatch and the illegal catch is way more than acknowledged. The fantasy is that the US is a technological marvel and we know everything going on in our waters. The reality is not the same! There is certainly no shortage of players that will buy illegally caught fish. Boycott anything caught or processed by China.

 

[Goodfish]

How Ocean Warming Is Killing a Prime Alaska Crab Fishery | Hakai Magazine

For the Aleut community of St. Paul, Alaska, the loss of snow crabs is rippling through the economy and raising concerns about the future.

hakaimagazine.com

 

[Paul in Idaho]

I have read a few of the posts and articles in this thread. There's a lot to learn. Here's a related article I found recently.

Why sockeye flourish and chinook fail in Alaska’s changing climate

Scientists don’t know exactly why one species is doing so well while the other is in crisis, but some clues are coming into sharper focus.

www.ktoo.org

 

[Goodfish]

I have read a few of the posts and articles in this thread. There's a lot to learn. Here's a related article I found recently.

Why sockeye flourish and chinook fail in Alaska’s changing climate

Scientists don’t know exactly why one species is doing so well while the other is in crisis, but some clues are coming into sharper focus.

www.ktoo.org

That’s absolutely fascinating! Global warming increasing the fertility and viability of sockeye rearing lakes at the same time other species are on the decline. I’d love to understand the biology that differs between a lake in Bristol Bay that benefits from an increase in temperature and a reservoir on the Columbia. I’ve always been curious about the Canadians doing the successful stocking in the northern lakes that feed into the Columbia vs. the Columbia or Snake by itself.

 

[Irrelevant]

Return(s) on investment: Restoration spending in the Columbia River Basin and increased abundance of salmon and steelhead

The decline in salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia River Basin has been well documented, as have the decades-long, $9 billion restoration spending efforts by federal and state agencies. These efforts are mainly tied to Endangered Species Act (ESA) mandates for recovery of wild...

journals.plos.org

The comparison finds the model-predicted levels of adult returns due to spending and hatchery releases do not exceed the survival-rate based estimates for hatcheries alone, so that we are unable to reject the hypothesis of no benefits to wild fish from the restoration spending.

I think almost everyone with their eyes open already knew this. Despite the $9 bil spent on restoration, we haven't actually made anything any better.

 

[44hunter45]

I've been on a Primus kick of late. Topical song for those with eccentric musical tastes...

Les Claypool = serious fisherman

 

[Paul in Idaho]

Here's another interesting perspective I just found. I did a quick review of this thread and saw references to commercial trolling and the Fraser river, but didn't see mention of mining waste.

Opinion: Powerful interests should stop targeting Alaska hook and line fishing | Juneau Empire

They should start targeting the real threat to wild salmon: habitat destruction

www.juneauempire.com

 

[R.K.]

I believe it it’s been covered in this thread, that commercial trawling (not to be confused with trolling) has had a severe impact on West Coast salmon populations. Specifically, that in certain fisheries bycatch in the fleet surpasses what all other users are able to catch/claim in a single year, even going so far as to have shut down subsistence fishing. The link below is for comment submission to US Representative Peltola (Alaska) about reducing bycatch in trawling fleets.

I guess it’s time to put those keyboards to work where actually matters, in a place where the right people might be listening.

We Want Your Opinion on Bycatch! | U.S. Representative Mary Sattler Peltola

peltola.house.gov

 

[Goodfish]

Some positive research on Coho. Curious how it might affect non anadromous species . Easy to implement—I’ve built a bunch of them!

Stormwater biofiltration increases coho salmon hatchling survival

A relatively simple, inexpensive method of filtering urban stormwater runoff dramatically boosted survival of newly hatched coho salmon in a WSU-led study.

news.wsu.edu

 

[Goodfish]

This one looks like political nonsense. [In my humble opinion]

Biden deal with tribes promises $200M for Columbia River salmon reintroduction

The Biden administration has pledged over $200 million toward reintroducing salmon in the Upper Columbia River Basin in an agreement with tribes that includes a stay on litigation for 20 years

abcnews.go.com

 

[Salmonchaser]

From what I’ve seen in NE Oregon the tribes are doing a pretty good job getting fish back into some historic water. Kings have been seen in the Grande Rhonde, Minam and Imnaha. IF they can get them over Chief Joseph Dam well that would be something to crow about. Wasn’t that long ago if you killed a sockeye in the Columbia you were going to jail. Now they can’t catch enough of them around Wenatchee. Mu understanding is the tribes don’t have to put up with all the difficulties created by environmental groups. They simply went out and developed a sockeye run.
On the other hand it is Biden, but I want to be positive when it comes to salmon.

 

[TheTone]

This one looks like political nonsense. [In my humble opinion]

Biden deal with tribes promises $200M for Columbia River salmon reintroduction

The Biden administration has pledged over $200 million toward reintroducing salmon in the Upper Columbia River Basin in an agreement with tribes that includes a stay on litigation for 20 years

abcnews.go.com

Definitely a head scratcher for me; put fish above dams that don’t have ladders?!? Nice to see my power bills continue to be used on funding projects that aren’t helping recovery

 

[Salmonchaser]

Definitely a head scratcher for me; put fish above dams that don’t have ladders?!? Nice to see my power bills continue to be used on funding projects that aren’t helping recovery

There is that ”small problem” I really don’t know if there has been any effort to build passage.

 

[Goodfish]

It’s all about votes, not about the fish. The research has been done. They know that the outbound smolt survival goes up exponentially when they shut turbines off in April and flush them. They know that the spawning gravels are inundated with silt. They know that fish can’t get past damns like Grand Coulee with no ladders. They know that barging efforts have been a failure. They know the tribes are going to win the lawsuit for blocking the Columbia, but by doing it this way they don’t alienate the dam users, they pay off the tribes, and they gain votes from the researchers who are redoing what has already been done, and they pay off the people making a living moving fish around dams.

 

[Goodfish]

From what I’ve seen in NE Oregon the tribes are doing a pretty good job getting fish back into some historic water. Kings have been seen in the Grande Rhonde, Minam and Imnaha. IF they can get them over Chief Joseph Dam well that would be something to crow about. Wasn’t that long ago if you killed a sockeye in the Columbia you were going to jail. Now they can’t catch enough of them around Wenatchee. Mu understanding is the tribes don’t have to put up with all the difficulties created by environmental groups. They simply went out and developed a sockeye run.
On the other hand it is Biden, but I want to be positive when it comes to salmon.

The Canadians gave up and started stocking the hell out of the sockeye lakes on the Okanogan system. That is the huge source of sockeye coming up the Columbia as far as Brewster. Similarly the reason there are larger fishable salmon and steelhead populations in the Snake system are the Federally mandated hatcheries that were put in place in penance for not installing fish ladders on the Hells Canyon dams.