FISHERIES COUNCIL APPROVES SHARPLY REDUCED OCEAN HARVESTS Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council voted this to allow what would be the lowest combined sport and commercial salmon harvest ever off the Oregon and California coasts, and sharply reduced harvests north of Oregon's Cape Falcon to the Canadian border. Read More...

BIOP REMAND APPEAL QUICKENED; SPRING SPILL PLAN BEGINS Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

Documents filed in federal court this week detail how Federal Columbia River Power System agencies plan to implement court-ordered spill for fish passage this spring and summer and how a "collaborative" effort to rework the hydrosystem salmon protection plan is progressing. Read More...

LOWER RIVER CATCH SHOWS FISH PRESENCE; FISHING CONTINUES Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

Oregon and Washington fishery managers used relatively strong catch rates in the lower Columbia River mainstem as a signal that upriver and other spring chinook salmon returns are ample enough to allow continued sport fishing for at least another week. Read More...

FORECAST PREDICTS BASIN RUNOFF TO BE A TAD BELOW NORMAL Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

The "early bird" forecast completed last week predicts runoff down the Columbia/Snake river system will fall short of the norm for the seventh straight year, though just barely. Read More...

RESEARCHERS DOCUMENT TOXIC CONTAMINANTS IN WHITE STURGEON Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

White sturgeon populations in the Columbia River may be declining due to the presence of elevated amounts of foreign chemicals including DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls in their bodies, according to new studies by researchers at Oregon State University. Read More...

BRIEFS FURTHER HASH OUT ARGUMENTS OVER UPPER SNAKE BIOP Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

Those opposing a legal effort to link upper Snake River projects’ effects on salmon with effects from other Columbia Basin federal dams offer only "distinctions without a difference" in their defense, according to documents filed in U.S. District by a coalition of fishing and conservation groups. Read More...

CORPS RELEASES WILLAMETTE RESERVOIR WATER FOR FISH FLOWS Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will increase outflows from some of its Willamette Valley reservoirs over the next few weeks to protect endangered species of migrating fish. Read More...

PANEL APPROVES CRAIG PROPOSAL PREVENTING OMB’S BPA PLAN Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

An amendment introduced by Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig that prevents the Bonneville Power Administration from using excess revenues to retire long-term debt more quickly was approved this week by the Senate Appropriation Committee. Read More...

HYDRO, FISH MANAGERS DISCUSS PROPOSED JOHN DAY SPILL CHANGE Posted on Friday, April 07, 2006 (PST)

Columbia Basin salmon management agencies have asked that fish spill regimes at John Day Dam be altered to make up for survival benefits they believe will be lost due to a power system failure that has resulted in the idling of four turbine units at the facility. Read More...