Despite Covid-19 Challenges, BPA Says Pikeminnow Reward Program Met Removal Goals, Though Harvest 70,000 Fish Below Average
January 15th, 2021
The Bonneville Power Administration reports that in 2020, for the 23rd consecutive season, the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program met its annual goal to remove 10% to 20% of pikeminnow, 9 inches or longer, in the Columbia and Snake rivers that prey on juvenile salmon and steelhead. Due to Covid-19, however, catch numbers were far below average.
Read the Full Article
Idaho’s ‘Salmon Workgroup’ Submits Policy Recommendations To Governor; No Consensus On Dam-Breaching
January 8th, 2021
The state of Idaho’s “Salmon Workgroup” last week released a final report that includes policy recommendations for Gov. Brad Little to consider that aim “to restore abundant, sustainable, and well distributed populations of salmon and steelhead in Idaho for present and future generations, while recognizing diverse interests throughout the State.”
Read the Full Article
USFWS Issues Final Rule Expanding Ability For States,Tribes To Lethally Take Cormorants Feasting On Fish
December 30th, 2020
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued the final rule and final environmental impact statement to “responsibly manage conflicts associated with double-crested cormorants” in the United States.
Read the Full Article
UW/NOAA Study Shows Earliest Arriving Spring Chinook Hit Hardest By Sea Lion Predation In Lower Columbia
October 22nd, 2020
A new University of Washington and NOAA Fisheries study found that sea lions have the largest negative effect on early-arriving endangered chinook salmon in the lower Columbia River.
Read the Full Article
Trapping, Removing Larger Salmon-Eating Steller Sea Lions ( 2500 lbs) For First Time Requires Larger Barge, Cages; BPA Says Funding Approved, Still Need Building
October 16th, 2020
Confronted with trapping and euthanizing salmon-eating sea lions that are sometimes twice the size of California sea lions, states and tribes are upgrading equipment and procedures to begin capturing the larger Steller sea lions in the Bonneville Dam tailrace and at Willamette Falls, and eventually in Columbia River tributaries.
Read the Full Article
Ecosystem Modeling: NOAA Predator-Prey Study Looks Simultaneously At Feeding Patterns Among Different Groups Predatory Fish
October 1st, 2020
Scientists at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center have developed an unusually rich picture of who is eating whom off the Northeastern United States.
Read the Full Article
Sea Lion Removal In Columbia/Willamette River To Restart In October Under New Rules: Now Includes Stellers, Area- Based Rather Than Individual Animal
September 25th, 2020
Sea lion removal at Bonneville Dam and Willamette Falls will restart in October, but with a twist that allows tribes and states to capture and euthanize far more sea lions, including both California and Steller sea lions, and to target sea lions in the lower Willamette River and from the I-205 bridge on the Columbia River upstream to McNary Dam, as well as the river’s tributaries.
Read the Full Article
Due To COVID-19, BPA’s Northern Pikeminnow Reward Program On Track For Lowest Harvest On Record; Season Extended, Bounty Payments Increased
September 24th, 2020
Likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and recent smokey skies, the number of anglers this year participating in the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program is down 28 percent from this time last year. Currently, the 2020 harvest of northern pikeminnow on the Columbia and Snake rivers is on track to be the lowest on record.
Read the Full Article
Key Avian Predation Management Question: Is Steelhead Mortality Due To Terns, Cormorants Additive Or Compensatory?
September 11th, 2020
The fish-eating sea birds on East Sand Island in the Columbia River estuary have been the target of management actions to reduce the number of double-crested cormorants and Caspian terns since the middle of the last decade.