The following weekly news summary was compiled by the Congressional Research Service from a variety of information sources. New info and changes since 11/5/99 are bracketed {...} New info and changes since 11/10/99 are double-bracketed {{...}}
Cleve Steward Sustainable Fisheries Foundation Tel. 425-670-3584
SALMON ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 12, 1999, OR Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Huckleberry ruled against the Pacific Legal Foundation's request that the OR Dept. of Fish and Wildlife not kill about 3,000 Alsea River coho salmon expected to return to Fall Creek Hatchery. Dept. biologists argue that hatchery coho are not adapted for like in the wild and would threaten wild coho salmon inhabiting the Alsea River Basin, that are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Pacific Legal Foundation (Sacramento, CA) argued that preventing hatchery salmon from spawning in the wild suppresses the number of wild salmon and allows the government to impose land-use controls and other restrictive measures..}} [Portland Oregonian]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 10, 1999, WA fishermen are scheduled to meet British Columbia fishermen and representatives of First Nations and Coastal Communities under the Peace Arch at the Blaine border crossing to present an initial delivery of food and other aid. This effort responds to the loss of the summer 1999 sockeye fishery and changes in the West Coast of Vancouver Island salmon harvest that devastated BC's fishery-dependent communities.} [personal communication]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 9, 1999, the chairman of the Grants Pass Irrigation District offered a revised plan for settling the dispute over the removal of Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue River, OR, asking the OR congressional delegation to support the District's removal plan. However, environmental interests are concerned over contingencies that they believe could delay or preclude dam removal. The District has scheduled a public hearing on the revised plan for Dec. 6, 1999, in Grant's Pass, and will vote on the proposal after the hearing.}} [Portland Oregonian]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 8, 1999, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced a new restoration plan to benefit CA chinook salmon and steelhead trout in Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. This plan includes the decommissioning and removal of 5 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. diversion dams, improved fish ladders and screens at 3 other dams, increased minimum instream flow, and other measures. Funding will come from a combination of federal, state, and private sources.} [Dept. of the Interior press release, Environment News Service, Environmental News Network]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 5, 1999, President Clinton transferred 57,000 acres of the Wahluke Slope, previously part of a security buffer for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, to the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, protecting salmon habitat in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River.} [Seattle Times, Environment News Service]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
In early November 1999, the Portland Oregonian reported that Pacific Northwest federal agency officials involved with salmon restoration presented a document to Clinton Administration officials that shifts emphasis from dam breaching to habitat restoration.
Elements of the habitat option include releasing more water from ID reservoirs, limiting salmon harvest, expanding hatcheries specifically for rebuilding wild stocks, and enforcing state and local regulations protective of salmon-rearing waters.} [Portland Oregonian]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 3, 1999, Trout Unlimited and the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund released a report completed by ECONorthwest (Eugene, OR) analyzing preliminary data gathered by the Army Corps of Engineers and concluding that the economic benefits of breaching 4 lower Snake River dams would exceed the costs to the region. The study http://www.tu.org/library/conservation.html ] asserts that the Corps of Engineers overestimated the negative effects of dam breaching and underestimated the positive effects. [Portland Oregonian, Seattle Post- Intelligencer]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 2, 1999, a team of researchers presented the Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) with a plan to reduce tern predation on seaward-migrating juvenile Columbia River salmon by 25%. The NPPC would like to see predation reduced by 67% to 75%. Part of the effort would involve harassing birds to cause them to leave Rice Island and relocate closer to the Pacific Ocean. {{ The NPPC is scheduled to take action on the plan in December 1999, determining whether to provide about half the $1.3 million project costs.}} [Spokane Spokesman-Review, NPPC Congressional Update]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 2, 1999, WA voters defeated Initiative 696 by {{more than a 60% to 40% margin,}} with the majority rejecting the Initiative in 34 of the state's 39 counties. This initiative would have banned 18 types of commercial fishing gear from WA state waters. [Assoc Press, Seattle Times, personal communication]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Nov. 1, 1999, American Rivers proposed an alternative irrigation system to provide water for eastern WA farmers if the 4 lower Snake River dams were breached. They propose such a system be constructed at federal expense. [American Rivers press release]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Oct. 27, 1999, the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council held a workshop in Vancouver, BC, on salmon and climate change. At this workshop, a Canadian Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans scientist reported that global warming over the next 50 years is likely to force salmon northward, leading to the possible abandonment of BC and Gulf of AK spawning drainages. [Assoc Press]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Oct. 21, 1999, a group of 14 southern Vancouver Island Native bands met to discuss when to fish illegally to assert their treaty rights.
On Oct. 21, 1999, a provincial fisheries official announced that an independent report had concluded that BC fishermen and processors lost as much as $57 million due to low Fraser River sockeye returns this year.
On Oct. 22, 1999, federal Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans released a policy paper identifying allocation priorities for salmon -- first prior is conservation, followed by First Nations' access for food, social, and treaty purposes; recreational fishery access to chinook and coho; and commercial fishery access to sockeye, pink, and chum salmon.
On Oct. 27, 1999, leaders of the 14 southern Vancouver Island Native bands were reported as working on an agreement with Vancouver-area First Nations that would allow them to fish on the mainland. [Assoc Press, Canadian Press, Portland Oregonian]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Oct. 20, 1999, President Clinton announced his intent to appoint Fran Ulmer, Lieutenant Governor of AK, as a member of the North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission. On Oct. 25-29, 1999, the annual NPAFC meeting is scheduled to convene in Juneau, AK. [White House press release, personal communication]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Oct. 19, 1999, NMFS published aFederal Register notice of its search for 3-5 highly qualified experts to serve on a Recovery Science Review Panel to guide the agency in the recovery planning process for the 26 ESA-listed Pacific salmon and steelhead trout populations. NMFS is also seeking 6-9 nominees for each of 2 technical review teams for salmon in Puget Sound and the Willamette/lower Columbia River basins. [NOAA press release, Fed. Register, Assoc Press]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
On Oct. 19, 1999, the Bureau of Reclamation published notice in the Federal Register announcing the availability of a draft environmental impact statement [http://164.159.17.69/treis/default.htm ] on Trinity River mainstem fishery restoration. Under the preferred alternative in this plan, water flow for salmon in the Trinity and Klamath Rivers would be nearly doubled by reducing the amount of water diverted into the Sacramento River. A series of 3 public hearings is scheduled in northern CA, with public comment due by Dec. 8, 1999. [Federal Register, Sacramento Bee, Dept. of the Interior press release]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
During conference committee deliberations on H.R. 2670 (Commerce, State, Justice FY2000 appropriations) on Oct. 18, 1999, conferees agreed to appropriate $50 million for Pacific salmon restoration programs ($7 million for OR, $18 million for WA, $14 million for AK, $7 million for CA, and $4 million for Tribes) and $10 million to capitalize the 2 Endowment Funds created by the June 1999 agreement between Canada and the United States.
On Oct. 26, 1999, President Clinton vetoed H.R. 2670.
On Oct. 28, 1999, the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans held an oversight hearing on the Pacific Salmon Treaty. [Portland Oregonian, personal communication]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
During conference committee deliberations on H.R. 2670 (Commerce, State, Justice FY2000 appropriations) on Oct. 18, 1999, an amendment was included in Section 623(b) mandating that the incidental take of salmon in Alaska would not be regulated under the authority of the Endangered Species Act, and that AK salmon fisheries would be regulated according to the management regimes of the 1999 Pacific Salmon Treaty agreement.
On Oct. 26, 1999, President Clinton vetoed H.R. 2670. [Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund press release, Seattle Times, House Report 106-398]
Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New
In mid-October 1999, farmers and environmentalists concluded an agreement in U.S. District Court to cooperate on developing a long-term restoration plan for the San Joaquin River, CA, to benefit salmon threatened by the operation of Friant Dam. [Assoc Press]
Back to top
Back to Whats New Index Page
Back to CRC Index Page
Back to Fish News Index Page
This page created and maintained by Chehalis River Council
Send comments or questions to the: Chehalis River Council
