Category talk:Politics and Fish Movement

From digmovements

"Hatchery fish lose genetic diversity in contrast to their wild fish counterparts in several ways, but all have to do with selection for attributes that are conducive to fish culture in a hatchery environment. First, fish are selected from a portion of a wild population, so only a fraction of the original population diversity is represented in the original development of the hatcher population segment. Often what happens next is selection for sexual maturity and spawning within a short time period, so that all the offspring from a given brood year are within a few days of being the same age. This is convenient for efficient hatchery egg incubation operations. Then, after eggs hatch and fry are ponded, fish that are close to the same age are grouped according to similar growth rates, with the fastest and slowest growing fish being segregated. This is necessary because big fish pick on little fish, eventually killing them or injuring them to the point that they are susceptible to fatal diseases. And then when the fish reach smolt size, they are all released at roughly the same time, to migrate at the same time, to rear in the ocean at the same time, and to eventually return to freshwater at the same time, to sexually mature and be artificially spawned at the same time. It's about sameness and homogeniety. This lack of phenotypic diversity becomes manifested in reduced genotypic diversity, creating a population segment that is well adapted for survival and population success in an artificial hatchery environment, but lacking in the diverse adaptation necessary for survival and population success in a natural environment. The same processes that selected for homogeniety in the hatchery environment can work in the reverse direction to select for greater diversity when hatchery fish are placed in natural environments. Within a few generations, most of the attributes that lack survival advantages in the natural environment are removed from the population, with the attributes that are beneficial remaining."

Steve Franzen fisheries biologist at NMFS and NOAA-Fisheries

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Salmon 'emergency' spawns new limits – Unprecedented fishing restrictions follow collapse of Calif. Chinook run (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/358664_salmon11.html?source=rss

Sharp Curb on Salmon Season – Faced with the collapse of the fall Chinook salmon run in the Sacramento River, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted Thursday to cancel all commercial salmon fishing this year from the California coast to north-central Oregon . (NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/us/11salmon.html?ex=1365652800&en=5bd832df8cde98d2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Deal with tribes could raise rates up to 4 percent, Bonneville says – Not all of the money will go to new fish-protection programs, the agency also says (The Oregonian)

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1207799709233020.xml&coll=7

Daily Astorian Editorial – Healthy river, ample fish – There may be more than one way of getting there

http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=392&ArticleID=50452

Tri-City Herald Editorial – Salmon settlement likely a boon to sea lions

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/942/story/153268.html

Environmentalists: Agreements won’t save salmon – Deals reached with Idaho and Northwest tribes provide funding for habitat work (Idaho Mountain Express)

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005120247

Hastings, Baird seeking action on Endangered Salmon Predation Act – Say a federal lawsuit filed to block the killing of sea lions could unnecessarily cause "thousands upon thousands" of endangered salmon to be destroyed (Tri-City Herald)

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/152613.html

California – Indictment alleges steelhead poaching near resident’s private dam (San Francisco Chronicle)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/11/BANS103RIJ.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

SQUAXIN ISLAND TRIBE SEEKS MORE SCIENCE ON JOHNS CREEK; ASKS ECOLOGY TO STOP NEW WELLS – The Squaxin Island Tribe has filed a petition with the state Department of Ecology to stop all new water withdrawals, including permit-exempt wells, in the Johns Creek watershed. According to the Tribe's Chairman, Jim Peters, summer flows on Johns Creek are already below the minimum required by state rules to protect salmon spawning. "The responsible thing to do is for everyone to stop new water withdrawals and figure out what's really going on with the creek." Peters says the impact of over 270 exempt wells drilled in the last 25 years has never been quantified. The tribe is filing the notice under a provision of state law that closes a watershed from future withdrawals if not enough information is available to justify those withdrawals. Development of a groundwater model as proposed by the Tribe and the City of Shelton would have answered many of the questions surrounding Johns Creek , but funding for the model was denied by Ecology. The Tribe expects the Department of Ecology to respond to the petition within the 60-day period required by law. (KMAS Radio, Shelton )

Murray blasts Administration over lack of levee funding – Sen. Patty Murray sharply criticized the Bush administration Thursday for failing to ask for money for flood-control projects along the Chehalis River . She summoned U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials to explain why (The News Tribune, Tacoma )

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/332395.html

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Disagreement surfaces about $900M fish plan – "…The interests of the environmental plaintiffs are narrow, and their objective seems to be singular — focused on Snake River dam breaching. The tribes go well beyond extinction issues. We want healthy, viable populations of all stocks — listed or unlisted — across the [ Columbia River ] basin," including unlisted salmon, steelhead and lamprey…” (Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004338997_bpatribes10m.html?syndication=rss

Idaho Announces Long-Term Agreement with Bonneville Power Administration – 10-year $65 million funding today to enhance fish recovery projects in Idaho ( KIFI-TV , Idaho Falls)

http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=8143850&nav=menu554_2_2

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board – Wild Salmon: Let science rule

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/358415_salmoned.html?source=rss

Pacific Salmon Fishery Faces Limits, Closure (National Public Radio)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89521887&ft=1&f=3

Alaska Chinook allocation down by 48 percent (Juneau Empire)

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/041008/loc_267164185.shtml

Salmon limits won't affect Columbia (Yakima Herald-Republic)

http://www.yakimaherald.com/stories/3066

Canada – Activists deem development a 'travesty' for salmon runs – Adams River condo and marina proposal will destroy fish habitat, environmentalists say (The Globe and Mail)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080410.wbcmarina10/BNStory/National/home

[edit] Once the mission is shaped to get funding, then the purpose of the group will be transformed.

[http://www.nwcouncil.org/library/isab/isabisrp2007-6.htm Review of fish on the Snake and Columbia river ]