Ocean Conditions Primed for Excellent 2012 Survival

While a multitude of factors in freshwater may drive long term trends in salmon populations, year to year variation in abundance is typically the result of the conditions in the marine environment. The survival of smolts in the early marine environment is highly variable and is known to have a particularly important role in determining the size of the subsequent adult run. In the area around the mouth of the Columbia River researchers monitor yearly changes in the productivity of the ocean food web and their effects on the survival and growth of juvenile salmon.

In this region productivity is largely driven by summer upwelling whereby summer winds transport surface waters offshore bringing cold, nutrient rich bottom water to the surface to replace it. Years of strong upwelling are often associated with La Niña conditions and negative (cold) phases in an oceanographic phenomenon called Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Typically, the survival of juvenile salmon outmigrating from the Columbia tracks closely with these environmental indicators and many of the best years for Columbia River salmon and steelhead have come on the heels of outmigration years with strongly negative PDO and La Niña conditions.

Now after two consecutive La Niña years and with PDO locked in a strong negative phase, scientists with NOAA fisheries say we're primed to have some of the best out migration conditions in recent memory. Years like these are a major boon to populations of wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin; excellent survival in 1999-2000 and again in 2007-2009 which helped turn the tide against extinction for many populations was largely due to good ocean conditions and court mandated spill in the later years.

More information in the Northwest Fish Letter:

http://www.newsdata.com/fishletter/299/1story.html

HSRG Issues Elwha Review

Last week the Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG), an independent federal science review panel released a long awaited review of the Elwha Hatchery programs. Not surprisingly the HSRG came to many of the same conclusions as we did in choosing to join the Wild Fish Conservancy, Wild Steelhead Coalition and Conservation Angler in a lawsuit against the Elwha hatchery program.

Specifically, the current hatchery emphasis in the plan is unnecessary and counterproductive to the aim of recovering robust wild populations in the Elwha River and that an inadequate monitoring program will limit the ability to adaptively manage hatchery programs and determine the degree to which they are aiding or hindering recovery. Furthermore, no specific recovery goals or thresholds have been established that would lead to a reduction in the degree of hatchery supplementation in the Elwha and many of the hatchery fish being released into the Elwha are not marked with an adipose fin clip.

A few quotes from the document:

"The main concern the HSRG has with the Elwha Plan is the potential for unintended negative consequences of excessive and prolonged hatchery influence."

"Prolonged hatchery influence may lead to loss of fitness of natural populations, potentially resulting in reduced or delayed restoration and loss of long‐term sustainable harvest opportunities."

"Inadequate program monitoring may lead to management decisions that reduce or delay recovery, rather than promoting it, and prevent managers from identifying and testing alternatives that could be more effective."

"The continued production of Chambers Creek steelhead stock during the early phases of recovery therefore appears inconsistent with the priorities and goals the managers have presented."

download a copy of the HSRG report

Bills Seeks to Help Recovery of Derelict Gear in Washington

Every year thousands of fish, birds and other marine life die because of lost or abandoned fishing nets. Despite the dangers posed by lost fishing equipment, Washington State still has a voluntary reporting system which since 2002 has only received 2 reports of lost gear. Efforts are underway to remove these deadly "ghost nets" from the marine environment, but with dozens of nets lost each year going unreported, recovery efforts are fighting an uphill battle. Now a bill recently passed in the Washington State senate seeks to aid the recovery of lost fishing gear. SB 5661 makes reporting lost fishing nets and traps mandatory allowing for their rapid recovery before they can inflict serious damage. This has been too long in coming and a similar bill died on the floor last year. The bill must now pass the Washington State house. Contact your representative today and let them know you support SB 5661.

http://www.votervoice.net/core.aspx?aid=1285&issueid=27519&atid=20833&siteid=0&app=GAC&isvisited=false

Suit Filed To Block Elwha Hatchery Programs

For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 9, 2012

WILD FISH CONSERVANCY
PO Box 402 Duvall, WA 98019 • Tel 425-788-1167 • Fax 425-788-9634 •
info@wildfishconservancy.org

Contact: Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy, 206-310-9301
Brian Knutsen, Smith and Lowney, PLLC, 503-287-4194

Citing warnings from agency and independent scientists, four conservation groups filed suit today against several federal agencies and officials of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (in their official capacities) for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and ignoring the best available science and threatening the recovery of killer whales, Chinook salmon, and native steelhead by funding and operating fish hatchery programs in the Elwha River. The groups agree with federal and state scientists and a recent review by the Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG) that restoration of the lower Elwha River and recolonization of the pristine upper Elwha River above Elwha and Glines Canyon dams should prioritize recovery of wild fish. The proposed reliance on large-scale hatchery releases undermines ecosystem recovery and violates the ESA. Wild Fish Conservancy, The Conservation Angler, the Federation of Fly Fishers Steelhead Committee, and the Wild Steelhead Coalition have brought the suit against the Olympic National Park, NOAA Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and representatives of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

The federal government is spending nearly $325 million for the dam removal project, opening nearly ninety miles of pristine riverine habitat in Olympic National Park, much of which is designated a wilderness area. Rather than allowing wild salmonids to naturally colonize this pristine habitat, the agencies and the Tribe are going ahead with a plan that will release approximately four million juvenile hatchery salmonids annually throughout the recovery, including the continued release of non-native steelhead during a five-year fishing moratorium. The hatchery releases will be supported by a new fish hatchery on the Elwha River built with $16.4 million of Stimulus Act funds. State and federal agency scientists pointed out that the current plan gives no measureable goals for wild fish recovery, provides no timetable for ceasing the hatchery production, and that ultimately, wild fish recovery is going to be hampered by the hatchery fish. A review released this week by the independent Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG), which was organized and funded by Congress, has echoed these concerns.

“While the Tribe played an essential role in removing the dams,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy, “their intent to now plant millions of hatchery fish in disregard of the scientific evidence undermines salmon recovery in the Northwest and the goals of the ESA. However you look at it, it’s a horrible precedent if left to stand.”

Will Atlas, chair of the FFF Steelhead Committee, stated “The science does not support planting of hatchery fish into this productive, pristine habitat.”

“This action is necessary,” said Rich Simms, president of the Wild Steelhead Coalition, “so that wild, not hatchery, steelhead will be restored to the Elwha and the Olympic Wilderness."

“Their plan is vague and uncertain about how and when these hatchery interventions will end,” said Pete Soverel, president of The Conservation Angler. “The Elwha deserves far better but will end up compromised like most of our other rivers if this plan is implemented.”

The groups believe that spending $325 million to open a wilderness watershed but then stocking it with hatchery fish is poor public policy and will likely provoke taxpayer skepticism toward salmon recovery and future efforts at dam removal. The groups support the right of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to harvest salmon and steelhead, but argue that intensive hatchery production throughout the recovery will reduce the capacity of wild salmon and steelhead to recolonize the newly available habitat, harming ESA listed Puget Sound steelhead, Chinook salmon, and southern resident killer whales that depend on Chinook salmon for their survival.

The groups are represented by Smith and Lowney, PLLC, of Seattle.

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Major Research Proposal Seeks to Quantify Fish Farm Impact on Sockeye Survival

A proposal by a group of biologists led by high seas salmon researcher David Welch is seeking major funding to conduct a comprehensive experimental study on the impact of salmon aquaculture on the survival of Fraser Sockeye Salmon. The proposal which calls for a pilot study in the spring of 2012 and full scale implementation 2013-2015 would tag juvenile sockeye salmon, expose them to fish farms and release them at the mouth of the Fraser where they would presumably migrate to sea with the rest of the juvenile sockeye outmigration. Differences in the survival of exposed and control groups to various acoustic tag readers in the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking network (POST) would be used to infer the impact of fish farm exposure on sockeye survival. Researchers would also test experimentally exposed fish for a suite of diseases thought to affect juvenile salmonid survival.

While a study of this magnitude is costly and must overcome a multitude of logistical challenges it offers a rare opportunity to experimentally quantify the impact of salmon farms on juvenile salmon survival. Salmon farming is a multimillion dollar industry in British Columbia which is largely controlled by foreign multinational companies. Concurrent with the expansion of the fish farming industry in British Columbia, wild salmon populations throughout the Georgia Basin have seen precipitous declines in productivity, and several studies have documented severe negative impacts of salmon farms on the survival of outmigrating juvenile salmon. Given these concerns, the burden of proof that salmon farms are not causing harm should be placed squarely on the industry and they should be compelled to fund research into the impacts of salmon aquaculture and cooperate with researchers hoping to understand the role of aquaculture in the decline of wild salmon. Unfortunately the industry and government agencies have obstructed scientific inquiry into salmon farming impacts, however there is hope that with growing public scrutiny they will feel compelled to address the issue honestly.

more information in the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/scientists-seek-to-learn-whether-fish-farms-kill-fish/article2327430/

Elwha Science Talk next week in Kirkland, WA

Dr. George Pess a researcher with NOAA's watershed program and one of the leaders of the research team on the Elwha River will be giving a talk next week at the Wilde Rover Cafe in Kirkland. The talk is the latest installment of the Pacific Science Center's Science Cafe lectures which bring leading researchers to the public do discuss the pressing scientific issues of the day. Dr. Pess is among the leading experts in the Pacific Northwest on river processes and has spent nearly two decades studying the dynamic interactions between river habitats and fish populations and the talk should be well worth attending. The event is free to the public and will be held at 7PM on Monday February 13th. The address for Wilde Rover is 111 Central Way, Kirkland WA.

More information:

http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/Adult-Education/sciencecafe

Snider Creek Hatchery Program Discontinued

Thanks in part to an outpouring of comments from the angling community asking that the Snider Creek hatchery program be discontinued on the Sol Duc, WDFW announced recently that beginning in 2014 the Snider Program will be moved to the Bogachiel and smolt releases will also be reduced from a goal of 100,000 to 50,000. WDFW will also be discontinuing other releases of hatchery steelhead in the Sol Duc, protecting one of Washington state's most productive wild steelhead rivers from the detrimental impact of hatchery introgression. In a perfect world the department would have simply discontinued the Snider program and not moved it to the Bogachiel, but faced with a challenging situation politically WDFW made the decision that minimized the impact of the program. The Bogey is already heavily supplemented with Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead and consequently is heavily pressured during the early season.

In recognition of this important decision, the Wild Steelhead Coalition is asking members of the public to write WDFW to thank them for making the right decision and discontinuing all hatchery steelhead programs on the Sol Duc. Follow this link to send your letter, it takes a few minutes and it will go a long way to ensuring that WDFW knows that they have the full support of the angling community in making tough decisions that aid the conservation and recovery of wild fish.

http://wildsteelheadcoalition.org/2012/01/thank-the-wdfw-for-their-important-management-decision-regarding-the-snider-creek-hatchery/