Tag Archive for 'salmon'

Salmon Re-enter Olympic National Park River Thanks to Elwha Dam Removal

Published on 08/28/2012 in dam removal and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“The National Park Service reported this week that adult Chinook (king) salmon have been seen in the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, less than five months after removal began on the Elwha Dam. According to the Park Service, the fish are the first of their kind known to enter the park through that river, since Olympic was established twenty-five years after the dam went up in 1913. (See a map of the region.)

The dam had blocked off more than 70 miles of formerly prime Elwha River habitat for the fish, which had been an important part of the local ecosystem and a key food source for local indigenous people.

As National Geographic previously reported, the Klallam Tribe still say that the Elwha River had been so full of salmon that a person could cross from one bank to the other by walking atop the thrashing bodies of fish struggling to move upstream to spawn.

According to the Park Service, Chinook were seen this week about two miles upstream from the park border by Phil Kennedy, the park’s lead fisheries technician.

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are the largest of the Pacific salmon, and historically entered rivers from California to Alaska, as well as in parts of Asia. Adult fish tend to range in length from 33 to 36 inches (840 to 910 mm) but may be up to 58 inches (1,500 mm). They average 10 to 50 pounds (4.5 to 23 kg), but may reach 130 pounds (59 kg). Their numbers have dropped due to loss of spawning grounds, and nine local populations are listed as threatened or endangered in the U.S.”

Read more: National Geographic

 

lily victoria

Feds urge extra water to prevent repeat of salmon kill

Published on 07/24/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, management, policy, rivers, species extinction and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.farallones.org

“Federal authorities want to send some extra water to the lower Klamath River in Northern California to prevent a repeat of a 2002 fish kill that left tens of thousands of salmon dead before they could spawn.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has proposed releasing additional flows down the Trinity River, the Klamath’s biggest tributary, late this summer in anticipation of record returns of fall chinook.

There is no extra water to be had from the upper reaches of the Klamath River itself, where court battles have long dictated how scarce water is shared between farms and fish.

“We are really glad the bureau is taking this seriously, but we are really concerned that no extra water will be coming out of the Klamath reservoir,” said Regina Chichizola, spokeswoman for the Hoopa Valley Tribe. “It seems that after the fish come past the Trinity River, the ones that come up the Klamath will be in danger of a fish kill.”

The proposal came from a team of scientists from tribes, and state and federal agencies involved in restoring salmon in the Trinity.”

Read more: The Register-Guard

 

lily victoria

Salmon revival in sight as Elwha River dams fall in U.S. Northwest

Published on 04/29/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dam removal, dams, displacement of people, hydrology, hydropower, policy, riparian zone, rivers and species extinction. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.reuters.com

“The two dams, about 80 miles northwest of Seattle, blocked migratory routes of salmon and steelhead trout to some 70 miles of tributary habitat, in the process robbing Native Americans of income by halting a treaty-guaranteed reservation fishery.

The river teemed with thrashing pink salmon before the Elwha Dam was built to generate electricity for the nearby mill town of Port Angeles, with a current population of around 19,000, and later, to a naval shipyard in Bremerton, about 80 miles away.

The Elwha Dam’s removal, completed in late March, was hailed by Governor Christine Gregoire as a significant environmental milestone that “shows what happens, when against many odds, a river is restored to its natural beauty.”

Supporters of the dam’s destruction say the benefits to the environment of tearing it down outweigh the loss of its aging power-generating station.

The destruction of the Glines should be finished in about a year to 18 months, ending the biggest dam demolition in U.S. history.

The removal of the two dams – ordered by a 1992 law signed by then-President George H.W. Bush – is aimed at restoring the natural habitat of more than 300,000 salmon. Economic and environmental impact analyses delayed the project’s start.”

Read more: Reuters

lily victoria

Brash SJV congressman shifts California water wars

Published on 03/07/2012 in dams, policy, rivers, tap water and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.allamericanpatriots.com

“After 20 years under CVPIA (Central Valley Project Improvement Act), Congress can conclude one thing: flushing fresh water into the San Francisco Bay is not helping to recover species and people are suffering needlessly.”

“That’s how Republican Nunes introduced H.R 1837, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act. It passed in the House with a bipartisan vote of 246/175.

H.R. 1837 is no hip-pocket, showboat legislation. It is a thorough and thoughtful attempt to turn the boat in the right direction in the ongoing California water crisis. Among other things, it lengthens the 25-year federal water contracts to 40 years; preempts strict state environmental laws and directs more water to farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta without threatening Sacramento Valley water supplies.

It also would throttle back an overly ambitious and dubious attempt to restore salmon to the San Joaquin River. Nunes’ bill will restore the river below Friant Dam using less water for less fragile fish species.”

Read more: Western Farm Press

 

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Water war heats up; farmers sue over move to save salmon

Published on 06/11/2011 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems and management. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Examiner

“After a drought-busting winter that was good news for fishers and farmers, tens of thousands of salmon have been caught or killed at the powerful Delta pumps in the past few months. In addition, more than 6 million Sacramento splittail, a large minnow that environmentalists say should be protected by endangered species laws, were also collected or killed at the pumps.

“Government biologists contend that the large number of fish killed in recent weeks and months is a product of their bouncing back because of the big winter. It stands to reason that with more fish in the estuary, more will be found at the pumps, they say.

“Still, to reduce the toll on California’s salmon run, which collapsed three years ago, regulators this week ordered pumps that serve farms along Interstate 5 to slow down by about one-third for two weeks.

“For farmers, the effect is slight — just a percentage point or two off what they would otherwise receive this year. And it appears possible that loss of water could be made up later in the year, though the head of the organization that filed the lawsuit denied that.

“We think it’s an illegal restriction on our pumping,” said Dan Nelson, general manager of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, which mostly represents west San Joaquin Valley farms. “The fishery action costs 35,000 acre-feet. “… There is no way of making that up.”

“The move to slow pumping rates was made possible by a 1992 law, co-authored by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, that shifted 800,000 acre-feet of water from San Joaquin Valley farms to the Bay-Delta environment, largely with the intent of doubling salmon populations. The law was in response to concerns that excessive diversions of Delta water to farms was degrading the estuary.

“The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Fresno, contends the decision to let 35,000 acre-feet of water flow into San Francisco Bay rather than be pumped to farms is illegal because it violates a 1985 agreement between state and federal water managers to maximize pumping in wet periods.”

Read more: mercury news

sammykayed

Salmon At Risk Of Extinction On Yuba

Published on 05/23/2011 in dams, rivers and species extinction. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.peachygreen.com

“The Yuba River was named one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the country Tuesday by a river advocacy group, which fingered Daguerre Point Dam and Englebright Dam as the culprits.

Because the dams hamper or bar salmon runs to the river’s upper reaches, according to representatives from the groups American Rivers and the South Yuba River Citizens League, federal and local agencies need to get serious about their responsibility for the troubled fish.

“The studies’ conclusion is very clear: Absent passage of terminal rim dams, the species is likely to go extinct,” said Jason Rainey, SYRCL’s executive director.

Rainey and Steve Rother, California office regional director for American Rivers, said they saw a need to highlight the Yuba River situation now, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service are studying the issue.

The Army Corps manages and maintains both Daguerre Point and Englebright dams, while the Fisheries Service listed passage above the dams as critical for spring-run Chinook salmon survival in a recovery plan.”

Read more: appealdemocrat.com

lily victoria

Salmon-Eating Sea Lions Sentenced to Die

Published on 05/15/2011 in dams, rivers and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Salmon passing through the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam in Washington State.  State officials in Washington and Oregon have been authorized to kill sea lions just below the dam that have been gorging on salmon.

Retrieved from: NY Times

“For the crime of snacking on endangered salmon, dozens of sea lions have been sentenced to die.

“On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had authorized state officials in Oregon and Washington to “lethally remove” a population of sea lions which for years have congregated just below the Bonneville Dam, about 150 miles from the Pacific Ocean, and gorged on salmon migrating upriver to spawn.

“This is not an easy decision for our agency to make, but a thorough analysis shows that a small number of California sea lions preying on salmon and steelhead are having a significant effect on the ability of the fish stocks to recover,” William W. Stelle Jr., the Northwest regional administrator for N.O.A.A.’s Fisheries Service, said in a statement.

“The states will be allowed to kill up to 85 sea lions per year, but only those that are known to be eating salmon.

“A previous decision by the agency to authorize the killing of the animals was halted by a federal appeals court after a lawsuit by animal rights groups. That lawsuit was struck down late last year.

“Numbering about 240,000 on the West Coast, the species known as the California sea lion is considered to be in good shape, N.O.A.A. said. By contrast, several salmon species on the Columbia River, including the steelhead, are listed as endangered and have been a major concern for fisheries biologists in recent years.”

Read more: NY Times

sammykayed

From Whiskeytown Lake to Sacramento River: New curtain will keep water cool

Published on 05/11/2011 in dams, lakes, rivers and species extinction. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Big Valley Diving workers Eric Gregerson (left) and Dan Smith work Friday on the cooling curtain at Whiskeytown Lake. Photo retrieved from: www.redding.com

“There’s a massive new curtain being installed at Whiskeytown Lake to cool water released into the Sacramento River for the sake of salmon eggs.

Construction workers on contract with the Bureau of Reclamation are busy setting up the curtain, which is nearly a half-mile long and drops into the lake’s water as much as 110 feet, said Bob Gee, a mechanical engineer for the bureau. He said the $3-million project should be completed by the end of the month.

The old $2-million rubber curtain, installed in 1993, already is gone, Gee said.

“It had a lot of holes in it,” he said.

The holes were caused by the curtain rubbing against chains linking buoys holding the top of the curtain to anchors on the lake bottom, Gee said.

“It just had deteriorated,” said Brian Person, manager for the bureau’s Northern California Area Office at Shasta Dam. “So it was time for a replacement.”

Bureau engineers redesigned this curtain and are using a different material to try to avoid the problem. The old curtain was made out of Hypalon, a synthetic rubber also used in rafts and roofing. The new curtain is made of reinforced polypropylene, a thick fabric also used as a liner for landfills, waste ponds and fish hatcheries.

The new 2,400-foot-long curtain should last at least 15 years, Gee said. The curtain blocks warm water from the lake’s surface from going into a tunnel leading to the Sacramento River. There will be about a 30-foot gap between the bottom of the curtain and the bottom of the lake, allowing cold water to flow into the tunnel.”

Read more: Redding.com

 

lily victoria

Record Numbers Of Salmon and Sea Trout in English Rivers

Published on 04/08/2011 in agriculture, rivers, solutions and outreach and water conservation. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.telegraph.co.uk

“Record numbers of salmon and sea trout are being found in iconic English rivers, say the Environment Agency, which has announced that river water quality in England has improved for the 20th consecutive year.

Over 70% of rivers are now graded as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ under the organisation’s own classification. Cleaner rivers have resulted in the recovery of British wildlife once thought to have vanished forever in some regions.

50 years ago, no salmon or sea trout were seen in the River Tyne, but already this year, more than 15,000 have been recorded migrating up river – the highest since records began. The number of sea trout in the Thames has also hit a new level; many fish species in the lower reaches of the river were wiped out in the 1830s due to pollution. The River Mersey meanwhile, once said to be the most polluted river in Europe, is the cleanest it has been for a century.

The Environment Agency says the improvements have been achieved through investment by water companies, tougher action on polluters, reduction in discharges from industry and businesses, changing farming practices and thousands of local projects such as building fish and eel passes throughout the country.”

Read more: Positive News

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Salmon migration detour using bubble barriers

Published on 03/04/2011 in lakes, levees, oceans, riparian zone, rivers and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: fresnobee

“Young, impressionable salmon migrating from the Sacramento River to the Pacific Ocean this week will encounter something their parents probably never warned them about: the underwater equivalent of a Pink Floyd concert.

“Strobe lights, deep sonic pulses and a wall of bubbles will greet salmon in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, but, in this case, the hydrological hubbub is an attempt to repel, not attract, the fish.

“The California Department of Water Resources wants to deter the fish from entering the predator-infested waters of the Georgiana Slough, an offshoot waterway leading to the huge churning pumps that send water to 25 million Californians.

“Over the next 45 days, engineers with the agency will finish fastening speakers, lights and air lines to steel pilings sunk into the river bottom. The experimental contraption, which biologists will build and study through April, is the latest bid by the state to stem the tide of Chinook salmon killed every year in the delta.

“Water resources officials plan to tag and track 1,500 juvenile salmon to determine whether the “bubble barrier” is working.”

Read more: SFgate

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