Recent Salmon and Fish news on May 13, 1998

A Coho

Salmon Along the Pacific Coast
{WA Forest Practices Board Meeting.
{{OR Reopens Willamette River Fishery.
{ID Fish and Game Commission Meeting.
{{Australian Imports of Canadian Salmon.
{Bristol Bay Disaster Aid.
{Canadian Salmon Buyback.
{Columbia Channel Dredging Opposition.
Timber and Cutthroat Trout.
Governors Meeting on Salmon.
GAO Salmon Report.
Logging-Salmon Study.
Pacific Salmon Treaty.

Steelhead Hatchery Lawsuit.
Savage Rapids Dam.
Bristol Bay Price-Fixing Lawsuit.
{Norwegian Toxic Algae.
{New Brunswick Salmon Disease Outbreak.
Port Strike Imperils Australia Tuna Farmers.
Arowana/Dragon Fish Charges.
Norwegian Salmon.
Chinese Red Tides.
Freshwater Fisheries
Major Mussel Indictment.
NC Dam Removal.
Illegal Ammonia Discharge.
Pfiesteria?

The following weekly news summary was compiled by the Congressional Research Service from a variety of information sources. New info and changes since 5/1/98 are bracketed {...} New info and changes since 5/7/98 double bracketed {{...}}

Cleve Steward Sustainable Fisheries Foundation Tel. 425-670-3584

Salmon Along the Pacific Coast

WA PUD Agreement.

An agreement among the Douglas County Public Utility District (PUD), the Chelan County PUD, NMFS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, and the Colville, Yakama, and Umatilla Tribes to aid salmon recovery is tentatively scheduled for signing on June 12, 1998. The agreement formalizes the completion of negotiation on a habitat conservation plan by the PUDs to guarantee that their three dams will have no net impact on migrating salmon and steelhead trout. The PUDs intend to employ fish bypass systems and water spills, replacement of lost fish with hatchery fish, and improve fish habitat. Chelan County PUD will pay $35 million for habitat improvements, while Douglas County PUD will pay $10 million. [Assoc Press]

{WA Forest Practices Board Meeting.

On May 13, 1998, the WA Forest Practices Board is scheduled to meet and consider a series of emergency timber-harvest reduction measures for riparian areas in the Columbia River basin, from the Cowlitz River upstream to the Wenatchee and Methow Rivers. These actions are to be taken in response to recent steelhead trout listings under the Endangered Species Act.} [Assoc Press]

{{OR Reopens Willamette River Fishery.

On May 7, 1998, the OR Dept. of Fish and Wildlife decided to reopen the sport fishery for spring chinook salmon on the Willamette River, citing a better return of fish than predicted.

On May 6, 1998, the run forecast was increased from 33,700 to 42,000 returning adult salmon. Heavy returns of "jack" salmon (prematurely returning juveniles) also are suggesting that the adult spawning return in 1999 may improve.}} [Assoc Press]

{ID Fish and Game Commission Meeting.

On May 7, 1998, the ID Fish and Game Commission held a daylong discussion in Lewiston, ID, on salmon and steelhead trout restoration measures.} {{At this meeting, the Commission endorsed more natural river conditions for migrating salmon and steelhead trout, without specifically mentioning breaching of the four lower Snake River dams.}} [Assoc Press]

{{Australian Imports of Canadian Salmon.

On May 6, 1998, Australian officials released selected details of a World Trade Organization dispute panel ruling on Australia's ban on the import of salmon from Canada. Canadian official responded to assert the WTO panel found Australia's ban to be inconsistent with WTO standards, and recommended the WTO request Australia bring its measures into conformity.}} [Dow Jones News]

{Bristol Bay Disaster Aid.

In early May 1998, AK state legislators debated whether the state's general fund should provide $1.8 million in matching funds required to secure federal disaster aid for Bristol Bay communities suffering from a low 1997 salmon harvest. Legislators from other regions where fishery income was reported as even lower than Bristol Bay's suggested that rural communities in the Bristol Bay region should provide the matching funds.

In a compromise, state funds earmarked for rural Bristol Bay communities were to be considered the matching funds.} {{On May 10, 1998, the AK House agreed with an amended Senate measure that would eliminate $1.8 million in state matching funds for federal disaster aid for Bristol Bay communities.}} [Assoc Press]

{Canadian Salmon Buyback.

On May 4, 1998, Canadian Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans officials confirmed the development of a new program, rumored at about C$200 million to buyback licenses of British Columbia salmon fishermen, in an effort to cut the BC salmon fleet by 50%.} [Assoc Press]

{Columbia Channel Dredging Opposition.

On Apr. 30, 1998, the Columbia River gillnetters group "Salmon for All" wrote to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to express concern over plans to dredge the Columbia River shipping channel 3 feet deeper from Astoria, OR, to Portland. Their concerns include smothering of crab beds or creation of nesting sanctuaries for salmon predators (e.g., Caspian terns) by dredged sand disposal.} [Assoc Press]

Timber and Cutthroat Trout.

On Apr. 29, 1998, U.S. District Judge Barbara J.

Rothstein ruled that NMFS failed to assure that the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management were adequately protecting endangered sea-run cutthroat trout and their habitat in the Umpqua River drainage from the effects of logging, and revoked NMFS approval of two dozen timber sales in southern OR. No injunction was issued by Judge Rothstein. [Assoc Press]

Governors Meeting on Salmon.

On Apr. 28, 1998, the Governors of ID, WA, OR, and MT were scheduled to meet in Olympia, WA, to discuss mutual concerns with salmon recovery and management. [Assoc Press]

GAO Salmon Report.

On Apr. 27, 1998, the General Accounting Office released a report entitled "Corps of Engineers' Actions to Assist Salmon in the Columbia River Basin" (GAO/RCED-98-100). GAO found that 19 of 47 fish recovery projects by the Corps had experienced delays, cost increases, or both; cost increases on 9 projects totaled more than $20 million. [Assoc Press]

Logging-Salmon Study.

In late April 1998, the OR Small Woodlands Assoc. and the OR Forest Industries Council released a report, including findings that as much as 44% of OR's westside private timber acreage could not be logged under NMFS's February 1998 proposals for modifying OR logging practices to help restore Coast Range coho salmon. [Assoc Press]

Pacific Salmon Treaty.

On Apr. 15-16, 1998, U.S. and Canadian negotiators began a second round of discussions in Vancouver, BC, on how to cooperatively manage salmon and allocate harvest for the 1998 season. Interim arrangements are being sought by June 1998. Talks are scheduled to continue in Portland, OR, on May 11, 1998. {{In early May 1998, a member of Canada's negotiating team called for the continued involvement of U.S. and Canadian special envoys (William Ruckelshaus and David Strangway, respectively) in the negotiating process.}} [Assoc Press, Reuters]

Steelhead Hatchery Lawsuit.

In mid-April 1998, King County (WA) Superior Court Judge Philip Hubbard Jr. ruled that WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife's environmental impact statement for the proposed $4.5 million Grandy Creek steelhead trout hatchery in the Skagit River basin was biased and incomplete.

The EIS was faulted for failure to adequately disclose risks to wild fish from the proposed hatchery operation and for the quick dismissal of alternatives to the hatchery production. [Assoc Press]

Savage Rapids Dam.

In mid-April 1998, NMFS officials sent the Grants Pass Irrigation District an example of the complaint that NMFS intends to file, asking a judge to prohibit dam operation, unless the District agrees by late April 1998 to remove the dam on the Rogue River, OR. The complaint also would seek a ruling that diversion of water from the river constitutes a "take" of threatened coho salmon under the Endangered Species Act.

On Apr. 22, 1998, NMFS filed a petition in U.S. District Court seeking an injunction to halt irrigation operations associated with the Savage Rapids Dam, on the Rogue River, OR, until the Grants Pass Irrigation District complies with the Endangered Species Act. NMFS negotiations with the Irrigation District to improve anadromous salmon and trout passage at this dam have been unsuccessful. {On May 4, 1998, the Grants Pass Irrigation District began assembling the Savage Rapids Dam, anticipating lowering stop logs into place and having the lake backed up by May 8, 1998. District officials reported that special screens will be installed to protect juvenile fish from diversions and nets will be installed to keep adult fish in fish ladders.} [Assoc Press, NOAA press release]

Bristol Bay Price-Fixing Lawsuit.

On Apr. 14, 1998, an Anchorage attorney announced that the one of the Japanese companies charged in the $1 billion Bristol Bay fishermen's antitrust class action case has offered $6.25 million to settle all claims against it. Court approval of the settlement is required.

[Assoc Press] . Aquaculture and Aquaria

{Norwegian Toxic Algae.

On May 5, 1998, Norwegian officials announced that between 400 and 500 tons of fish, mostly salmon, had been killed at 9 salmon farms along Norway's southwestern coast by a toxic algal bloom, possibly Heterosigma.} [Assoc Press, Dow Jones News]

{New Brunswick Salmon Disease Outbreak.

On Apr. 28, 1998, New Brunswick's Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture announced additional measures to try and control an outbreak of infectious salmon anemia, which has been a problem since late 1996. Measures included an order to slaughter 700,000 fish, a $10 million assistance package for salmon farm operators, and a mandatory 25% reduction in the province's $120 million-per-year salmon aquaculture industry.} [personal communication]

Port Strike Imperils Australia Tuna Farmers.

On Apr. 20, 1998, Australia tuna farmers express fear that their tuna stocks may have to be liquidated and sold at great loss if 130 containers of frozen pilchards from CA and Europe, used as tuna feed but sitting on South Australian wharves, are not released by Maritime Union of Australia pickets. With tuna farmers not permitted to find alternative food stocks in Australia, feed stock on hand is anticipated to be completely used by late April 1998.

On Apr. 23, 1998, Australian judges were to decide whether to reinstate striking union dock workers, who had been dismissed.

On Apr. 24, 1998, two tuna farming operations began early harvesting. [Reuters]

Arowana/Dragon Fish Charges.

On Apr. 16, 1998, a New York City aquarium businessman was charged in federal court with illegally importing more than 50 Southeast Asian arowana (dragon fish or Asian bonytongue, Scleropages formusus). Although prized in the international pet trade, this species is protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The businessman was charged with importing the fish under false documentation from Malaysia and trying to sell them to undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement agents between October 1997 and April 1998. [Reuters, Assoc Press]

Norwegian Salmon.

On Apr. 14, 1998, European Union officials imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of farmed salmon from 24 Norwegian companies. Anti-dumping duties of $0.35 per kilogram and countervailing duties of 3.8% were imposed. This action extends some of the provisional anti-dumping duties imposed on 29 Norwegian companies in December 1997, who were cited as having violated an EU-Norwegian agreement on salmon pricing. [Reuters]

Chinese Red Tides.

On Apr. 13, 1998, Hong Kong officials closed five popular beaches because of red tides of Gyrodinium aureolum or Gymnodinium mikimotoi.

These tides were also alleged to have killed an estimated 1,500 tons or about as much as half of Hong Kong's annual farmed fish production. These tides began in mid-March 1998, and are claimed to have caused at least $32.3 million damage to 80% of Hong Kong's 1,500 fish farms. However, government officials estimate the loss at only about $10.3 million. About 100 fish farms were provided with emergency subsidies of about $1,282 each. Although government officials later announced that there would be no government compensation for losses, provision of low-interest loans would be considered. Cleanup efforts have dealt with only a portion of the dead fish from these fish farms.

Confusion exists over whether or not these dead fish are acceptable for human consumption -- while Agriculture and Fisheries Dept. officials deemed the fish safe to eat, Health Dept. officials advised against eating these fish. By Apr.

16, 1998, about 500 tons of dead fish had been collected and dumped in landfills. The Hong Kong government announced efforts to develop a red tide monitoring and warning system. As of Apr. 16, 1998, the red tide affecting Hong Kong had spread to neighboring Guangdong province, where more than 350 tons of fish were reported killed. The economic loss was reported to exceed $4.3 million.

In addition, more than 328 acres of shellfish beds were reported to have been "ravaged." On Apr. 24, 1998, Hong Kong officials reported a new "eruption" of red tide near the southern part of Hong Kong Island. [Assoc Press, Reuters, personal communication]

Freshwater Fisheries

{{Cutthroat Trout ESA Petitions.

In early May 1998, several environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add the Bonneville, West Slope, and Rio Grande subspecies of cutthroat trout to the federal list of threatened and endangered species.}} [Assoc Press]

Major Mussel Indictment.

On Apr. 27, 1998, three IA residents, one WI resident, and two IL residents were named by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials in a 59-count indictment for illegal freshwater mussel harvesting from the Mississippi River in six states under the Lacey Act. More than $300,000 worth of mussels were harvested between July 1993 and July 1997.

These freshwater mussels were harvested for export to the cultured pearl industry in Japan. Arraignment is scheduled for May 15, 1998, in Davenport, IA. [Assoc Press]

NC Dam Removal.

On Apr. 23, 1998, the NC Division of Water Resources announced that it had signed a contract to remove the Cherry Hospital dam on the Little River, near Goldsboro, NC. Dam removal is anticipated to increase spawning habitat available for hickory shad, striped bass, and other fish. [Assoc Press]

Illegal Ammonia Discharge.

In mid-April 1998, a Roanoke, VA refrigeration company was assessed civil penalties by the VA Dept. of Environmental Quality for discharging, without a permit, cooling water containing ammonia into the Roanoke River in September 1997, and killing at least 16 endangered Roanoke logperch. A consent order would require the company to stop using ammonia, obtain a permit to discharge ammonia, or connect to the municipal sewer system. [Assoc Press]

Pfiesteria?

On Apr. 13, 1998, the MD General Assembly approved legislation to combat Pfiesteria. The measure would require farmers to limit nitrogen runoff by 2003 and phosphorus runoff by mid-2005. Violators could be fined as much as $2,000 per year. {On May 6, 1998, VA officials reported to the state's Pfiesteria Task Force that state agencies will spend more than $7.7 million over the next two years to address Pfiesteria and related concerns, including possible human health effects.} {{On May 7, 1998, the SC Task Force on Toxic Algae reported their preliminary plan for monitoring and containing Pfiesteria outbreaks as well as dealing with "estuary associated syndrome" -- the official name for human health conditions associated with Pfiesteria and related organisms. After a MD eastern shore physician reported treating a man on May 8, 1998, for possible exposure to a Pfiesteria-type organism, scientists reported no lesions on fish or any other signs of Pfiesteria or related organisms in the Pocomoke River on May 9, 1998.}} [Assoc Press]