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The salmon looked like shadows gliding silently beneath the surface of a pool between the foaming rapids of rugged Butte Creek. Suddenly, with a splash, a big glittering fish leaped out of the water, then another and another. The spring-run chinook were jumping this past week in the remote, forested gorge outside Chico. "This is the last best run of wild salmon in California," said Allen Harthorn, 56, the executive director of Friends of Butte Creek, who has been fighting for more than a decade to save the historic - and once sacred - spring run of chinook in this...

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Six federally protected sea lions were apparently shot to death on the Columbia River as they lay in open traps put out to ensnare the animals, which eat endangered salmon. State and federal authorities are investigating. The discovery came one day after three elephant seals were found shot to death at a breeding ground in central California. Trapping will be suspended during the investigation, said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who was at the scene Sunday.

State and federal authorities said they are investigating the deaths of six sea lions found dead at the Columbia River traps. They appeared to have been shot. The bodies of four California sea lions and two Steller sea lions were found at the traps early Sunday afternoon. There were two California sea lions and one Steller sea lion at each of two traps just below the Bonneville Dam. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and federal investigators are treating the area as a crime scene. Both species of sea lion are federally protected but Oregon and Washington state are...

HORSETHIEF LAKE, Wash. -- Fidelia Andy was a 6-year-old happily running coffee to tribal fishermen at Celilo Falls when the federal government signed a deal with the tribes that flooded the falls and her family's home in the rising waters behind The Dalles Dam. On Friday, more than 50 years later, Andy and other leaders of four Northwest tribes finalized a new $900 million agreement with the federal government that they hope will begin to reverse the damage done by Columbia River system dams. "We Indians gave up so much in the past," Andy, a Yakama tribal leader and chairwoman...

Salmon fishing was banned along the West Coast for the first time in 160 years Thursday, a decision that is expected to have a devastating economic impact on fishermen, dozens of businesses, tourism and boating. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez immediately declared a commercial fishery disaster, opening the door for Congress to appropriate money for anyone who will be economically harmed. The closure of commercial and recreational fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon was announced by the National Marine Fishery Service. It followed the recommendation last month of the Pacific Fishery Management Council after...

A federal appeals court injunction issued Wednesday says Northwest states can trap, but not kill, the animalsThe on-again, off-again permission for Oregon and Washington officials to kill salmon-gobbling sea lions below Bonneville Dam is off again, courtesy of a federal appeals court injunction issued Wednesday. However, the appeals court said state officials could still capture sea lions and ship them to zoos. Oregon officials said they will begin trapping up to eight of the Bonneville animals today. The sea lions gather at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River to feast on salmon, including imperiled species, gathering to climb the dam's...

The Humane Society of the United States has filed a request for an emergency injunction asking a federal appeals court to block the government from killing protected sea lions at Bonneville Dam. U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman rejected a request for a preliminary injunction on Wednesday even though he said the Humane Society might prevail in court with a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the states of Oregon and Washington. The ruling left open the possibility the states could begin killing the sea lions today. But the government and the Humane Society said they did not expect...

A federal judge on Wednesday refused to stop fishery officials from trapping and killing California sea lions who are eating endangered salmon at Bonneville Dam. The Humane Society of the United States had challenged the plan, arguing that federal officials had failed to show that trapping the sea lions will have a significant impact on the salmon runs. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman said the government had shown that the sea lions were doing "serious damage." The Humane Society also argued that trapping and killing the animals would harm kayakers and others who have established relationships with individual...

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that water regulators failed to consider the effects of global warming and other environmental issues related to the decline of California salmon populations when they approved increased pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said a 2004 study prepared by federal regulators to support the increased water exports was scientifically inadequate. "There is no analysis of adverse effect on critical habitat," Wanger wrote about winter-run chinook salmon. The judge also ruled that there was a "total failure to address, adequately explain, and analyze the effects...

Any hopes salmon fishermen had for even token chinook fishing in Oregon faded Thursday when federal fisheries managers adopted the most restrictive limits on West Coast salmon fisheries in history.The recommendation by the Pacific Fishery Management Council allows fishing for 9,000 hatchery coho salmon off Central Oregon. No other salmon fishing will be allowed south of Cape Falcon, a point between Seaside and Tillamook.That eliminates a fishery that has typically been one of the richest on the West Coast, averaging catches of more than 800,000 chinook annually from 2000 to 2005.Salmon fishing north of Cape Falcon and in Washington...

The authorized killing of California sea lions at a dam on the Columbia River would be postponed under a proposal reached Tuesday by the Humane Society of the United States and federal and state governments. The Humane Society filed a motion March 28 seeking a preliminary injunction against the authorization for killing the animals and said it would seek a temporary restraining order if it wasn't granted by Friday, the earliest date the "lethal removal" was likely to begin. Those favoring the removal say the sea lions are damaging salmon runs listed under the Endangered Species Act and protected at...

PORTLAND -- The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and two citizens have filed suit in U.S. District Court to halt the authorized killing of sea lions at the base of Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River. The lawsuit, filed Monday, had been filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., last week but it was withdrawn when the fish conservancy group asked to join it. The National Marine Fisheries Service has granted a request by Oregon and Washington to kill up to 85 animals a year over five years to protect endangered or threatened salmon runs. The...

The hunter may soon become the hunted at Bonneville Dam. Sea lions have in recent years converted the damÂ’s forebay into their own salmon buffet line, but soon they may eat their last meal. Federal authorities last week granted a request by the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho to shoot California sea lions believed to be taking a chunk of salmon stocks that have already dwindled nearly to the point of extinction. The issue pits one creature against another, but it more fundamentally raises questions about humansÂ’ role in trying to strike a balance. Ultimately, itÂ’s likely someone will...

Federal fisheries managers are giving the go-ahead today for Oregon and Washington officials to trap and, if necessary, kill sea lions that wolf down thousands of salmon at Bonneville Dam every year. The Associated Press received a copy of the order late Monday. It limits lethal removal to sea lions deemed to have a significant effect on federally protected salmon and steelhead stocks. They must have been seen eating such fish between Jan. 1 and May 31 of any year. The order says sea lions captured in traps must be held for at least 48 hours to allow a search...

The agreement announced Tuesday on the future of the Klamath River offers reason for cautious hope that the troubled waterway can recover from years of human intervention and abuse while meeting the conflicting needs of fish and farms. The agreement � forged by the farmers, fishermen, American Indians, government agencies and conservation groups whose views on the Klamath’s future long have clashed � achieves the seemingly impossible: a broadly supported plan to allocate the free-flowing waters of the river without dams. Therein lies the hope. And therein lies the caution. That these longtime adversaries, who for years battled over a...

PORTLAND, ORE. -- A federal agency recommends killing about 30 sea lions a year at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River to keep them from eating salmon and steelhead. It was among four proposals listed by NOAA Fisheries Service after meetings of a task force last year and requests in 2006 by Oregon, Washington and Idaho to allow removal of some of the animals, which are protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. At least three upper Columbia River spring salmon runs that pass through the dam are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Sea lions, while...

A Chum Salmon In the photo above, a large male chum salmon is attempting to cross a flooded roadway in the lower Skokomish valley. Behind it, a dozen or so other salmon are awaiting their chance at a crossing. Many of these chum salmon will be successful in reaching their upstream spawning grounds, but others will be stranded by the receding flood waters and may die before spawning.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — To Columbia River tribes, California sea lions are salmon-gobbling menaces that have outgrown their need for federal protection, threaten tribal livelihoods and fly in the face of treaty rights. Animal rights advocates see them as a politically convenient scapegoat used to explain dwindling salmon runs when the real problems lie elsewhere. On Sept. 4 a broad-based federal task force meets here to make a recommendation to NOAA Fisheries as to whether to allow some sea lions, protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, to be killed to take pressure off salmon runs. In recent years...

A river regained JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune PORT ANGELES – Floating down the Elwha River on Thursday, Robert Elofson nodded his head in appreciation. A trio of harlequin ducks skittered across the river’s tumbling surface as they took off. Downstream, a handful of mergansers quietly dozed, ignoring the three rafts drifting by their riverside roost. Rings on the river’s surface marked the occasional rise of a trout as it slurped in a bug for a midday meal. With the Elwha River already a remarkable outdoors experience for kayakers, rafters and anglers, Elofson believes it will become so much...

WASHINGTON - The Interior Department's inspector general didn't find political interference by Vice President Dick Cheney on a key environmental policy in part because investigators weren't looking for it, an Interior official said Tuesday. A 2004 report by the inspector general found no basis for a claim by then-Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry that White House political advisers interfered in developing water policy in the Klamath River Basin in California and Oregon. But investigators did not ask about Cheney — and no Interior employee volunteered information about him, said Mary Kendall, deputy Interior inspector general. A former high-ranking Interior official,...

Most animal rights activists put themselves in the stickiest contradiction and never seem to realize it. One day the self-appointed protector of the environment decries humanity for encroaching on wildlife and crimping the mating habits of the deer mouse; and the next day the same environmentalist swears by the theory of evolution, praising the notion of survival of the fittest and natural selection. Such is the situation that the Department of Agriculture has gotten itself into. DOA has actually deployed a salmon protection team to fend off hungry sea lions. Ironically, "preliminary numbers indicate the sea lions caught more salmon...

ENTIAT -- For the first time in decades, the adult spring Chinook salmon now returning to the Entiat National Fish Hatchery will not be spawned and reared as the next generation of Entiat River hatchery fish. Instead, the 575 salmon that returned to the hatchery by Monday were caught in nets, clubbed and given to American Indian tribes on the Colville and Spokane reservations to be used in ceremonies or as food for tribal members. Dozens more spring chinook are likely to return to the hatchery in the next week, and will also be given to the tribes, said Julie...

Signs emerge of vigilante approach to protected sea lions 4/19/2007, 5:25 p.m. PT By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER The Associated Press    PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The competition between protected sea lions gobbling Columbia River salmon and impatient humans with empty fishing lines has led to vigilante action.A fisherman shot a sea lion who stole a salmon off the line of a fellow angler Wednesday at a popular fishing spot near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers.The sea lion was hit twice but reported alive in the river Wednesday night.Fishermen have complained that the sea lions eat too...

California citrus farmers would get $20 million, spinach growers $25 million and salmon fishermen $60.4 million in an emergency war spending bill that passed a House committee Thursday. The money for citrus and spinach growers is part of $3.7 billion for farm disaster relief in the bill, including $1.8 billion for crop loss assistance and $1.48 billion for livestock compensation. Farmers in California and other states would be able to apply for that crop and livestock money. The relief comes as part of a $124 billion war spending bill - including $95.5 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq...

PacifiCorp may agree to removing dams But such a step to help Klamath salmon runs wouldn't be taken if higher power rates resulted, the utility says The new president of PacifiCorp's power generating division says the utility could agree to remove five dams from the Klamath River to help restore salmon if customers don't have to pay more for electricity. "We have heard the tribes' concerns," PacifiCorp Energy President Bill Fehrman said in a statement posted Wednesday on the utility's Web site. "We are not opposed to dam removal or other settlement opportunities as long as our customers are not...

RUSSIAN RIVER -- The red salmon came again this June in a gray-backed wave of life that at times nearly obscured the rocky, rubble bottom of this stream. No one could have imagined such a bounty nearly 40 years ago when the groundwork was being laid for the revitalization of the popular Kenai Peninsula fishery. The river then supported a healthy salmon fishery, but it was nothing compared to what it is today. Red salmon used to return each summer by the thousands or tens of thousands. Now, between the early run just finishing and the late run just beginning,...

Agency Delays Salmon Disaster Declaration WASHINGTON (AP) - West Coast salmon fishermen waiting for up to $80 million in disaster relief from a sharply curtailed fishing season are caught in a dispute between a regional fisheries office and the national headquarters. A disaster recommendation from a regional office of the National Marine Fisheries - which cleared the way for the fishermen to receive aid - was overruled by officials at the agency's suburban Washington headquarters. A final decision is not expected until February, well past the end of the fishing season, said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., who is furious over...

Long-gone salmon species to populate Lake Ontario once more Province set to release about 400,000 Atlantic salmon into three watersheds Globe and Mail April 28, 2006 JAMES RUSK Lake Ontario will receive a massive restocking of Atlantic salmon in an attempt to return a species of fish to the lake that died out more than a century ago, it was announced yesterday. Over the past 20 years, the province has added a number of the fish to the lake as part of a restoration plan, and over the next year about 400,000 Atlantic salmon will be released into three...

Federal regulators have voted to impose severe restrictions on salmon fishing off the coasts of Oregon and Northern California to protect dwindling populations in the Klamath River. The Pacific Fishery Management Council decided to close about 700 miles of coastline to commercial salmon fishing for most of June and July. Those are generally the most productive months of the season.

Despite bombs, boats and rubber bullets, dozens of sea lions are continuing to kill salmon near the Bonneville Dam. This month, biologists are trying one last time to scare off the problem sea lions, but if that doesn't work, they may try to kill them. Sea lions could kill as much as 10 percent of this spring's salmon run and biologists say if they cannot get the problem solved soon, the situation could get ugly. The problem is that the salmon are disappearing. An estimated 8,000 salmon will be lost this spring at Bonneville Dam. "The difficult part about it...

CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. - In his way, C404 is kind of cute, with those sea-lion whiskers, soft brown eyes and furry little head. But to many he is a sea lion either from hell _ or from Harvard. C404 has driven the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Bonneville Dam to near distraction as he and his ilk sit at the base and munch salmon gathered to continue upriver to spawn. Numerous sea lions head for the dam each spring, but C404 is in a class by himself. He has figured out how to get into fish ladders that help...

A federal judge on Monday ordered the government to institute a Klamath River management plan immediately instead of waiting five more years, which means farmers could be deprived of irrigation if water levels drop low enough to threaten the survival of coho salmon. U.S. District Court Judge Saundra B. Armstrong, who sits in Oakland, said if river levels fail to meet 100 percent of the water flow needed for the coho as determined by the National Marine Fisheries Service, then farmers who rely on the Klamath will have to do without. That should not be a problem this year because...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. PORTLAND, Ore. - Conceding that using hatcheries to supplement dwindling salmon populations is harming wild salmon species in some cases, the Bush administration plans to move away from the practice in favor of a more direct solution: Catch fewer fish. James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, announced the new policy Wednesday at a meeting of salmon scientists, many of whom have concluded that wild Pacific salmon will become extinct this century without big changes in how the harvest is managed. "Our goal is to minimize and,...

Fish diet 'brings a brighter baby' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 20/01/2006) Pregnant women who eat more fish, which contains omega-3 fatty acids, tend to have brighter, more sociable children, claim researchers. The amount of omega-3 helps to determine the child's intelligence, fine motor skills - the ability to manipulate small objects and hand and eye co-ordination - and the propensity to anti-social behaviour, says a study by Dr Joseph Hibbeln, of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.Omega-3 is found in oily fish like salmon The findings, which were presented to a meeting in London this week, show...

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Fish advocates see the plan to demolish Condit Dam on the White Salmon River as good news for salmon everywhere, but the state Ecology Department says the project could hurt fish downstream and might violate the federal Endangered Species Act. Demolition of the 125-foot-high hydroelectric dam, owned by Portland-based PacifiCorp, is proposed for October 2008. The project would open 33 miles of steelhead habitat and 14 miles of salmon habitat in the area of the river blocked by the dam since 1913. The river forms a portion of the boundary between Klickitat and Skamania counties along the...

Court tosses Bush plan for Klamath water Water A federal judge says the irrigation plan for farmers doesn't help threatened fish Wednesday, October 19, 2005 MICHAEL MILSTEIN A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out the Bush administration plan to deliver irrigation water to Klamath Basin farmers, saying it does not do enough for threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River. The ruling probably will mean more water must be shifted from farmers to fish in the basin's emotional tug of war over the precious resource. "This clearly could be a worse picture for us than what we had in...

Grab your fishing rod for one final fling before the snow flies. This year's silver salmon return in the Delta Clearwater River appears to be another good one, said sport-fish biologist Fronty Parker with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Delta Junction. "I checked last Friday and counted about 4,000 in the lower part of the river," reported Parker. "That means we're doing pretty good." It should be at least an average run, which translates to a return of about 20,000 coho to the Delta Clearwater, the biggest spawning ground for the Yukon River's silver salmon run There...

Alaska Airlines Nets Largest King Salmon on Earth “Salmon-Thirty-Salmon” aircraft underscores carrier’s role in transporting Alaska seafood Alaska Airlines today landed the world’s largest king salmon—stretching 120 feet and weighing in at 140,000 pounds—at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The “Salmon-Thirty-Salmon,” sporting the glimmering image of a wild Alaska king salmon, is among the world’s most intricately painted commercial airplanes. Complete with shiny scales, a dorsal fin and gills, the livery on the Alaska Airlines 737-400 passenger aircraft is the result of a dedicated team of 30 painters working nearly nonstop for 24 days. The airplane symbolizes the critical role Alaska Airlines...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A federal judge Friday gave federal agencies one year to come up with a new plan to keep threatened and endangered salmon from getting killed by the government's hydroelectric dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers. Federal officials had asked for two years. But U.S. District Judge James Redden went along with the one-year timetable sought by environmentalists, Indian tribes and fishermen. "We're running out of time," the judge said. "This time we're going to do it." Salmon are dwindling in the Columbia Basin because of the combined effects of dams, overfishing, logging, grazing, irrigation and...

VALDEZ, Alaska (AP) - This is a busy commercial and sportfishing town, and it normally smells a little ripe in late summer as unharvested pink salmon spawn and then die. But this year, residents and tourists have been holding their noses a little tighter. Millions more pink salmon than expected, most of them born at the local Solomon Gulch hatchery, migrated in from the ocean this season, overwhelming commercial seiners and processing plants.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Nearly a million salmon are returning up the Sacramento River, luring eager fishermen as the fishing season began Saturday. "It's a great river for salmon and this is supposed to be a record year," said Mike Cottrell of Marysville, fishing with his wife and another couple among a dozen boats near the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers Saturday morning. "We've seen a lot of guys taking them ... probably a dozen since we went out about daybreak." Environmental groups hailed the record return as a conservation success story, while fisheries managers said high water and...

<p>A Native corporation out of Old Harbor has a plan to sell fish … high-priced fish.</p> <p>Last year the Old Harbor Native Corporation (OHNC) purchased a portion of the Grand Denali Lodge, just north of Denali National Park. From this partnership grew the Denali Seafood Company, which is now exclusively owned by OHNC.</p>

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - A federal court ruling that rejects the Bush administration's latest effort to balance Columbia Basin salmon recovery against hydroelectric dams has fish conservationists pressing anew for breaching four dams on the lower Snake River. "What the law requires is an honest analysis of how we configure the hydro system so we can get salmon back in our rivers," said Jan Hasselman, attorney for the National Wildlife Federation. "What all the scientists tell us is such an honest analysis would call for breaching the lower four Snake River dams." But with President Bush and the Republican-led Congress...

DAVENPORT — Almost two months after a dozen fish were killed at a Davenport hatchery, federal investigators are looking for a break in the case. NOAA Fisheries investigators are offering $5,000 for information about the mid-March killing of the steelhead at the hatchery operated by the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project "If we crack it, it will be because of public input," NOAA Fisheries Agent Joe Giordano. "We just haven’t had much luck." Investigators said a freshwater tank had been tainted with chlorine. The dead fish were discovered during a routine check of the tank. Steelhead in Central California...

Salmon is always a treat, but if you want to try something different, how about making pickles and candy out of the next fish that lands in your kitchen. In my house, when there are salmon pickles in the crock and a stash of salmon candy in the cupboard, everyone is happy. A platter of salmon candy makes a sweet treat. Mention pickled fish and most folks think of herring. I used to, too, until a few years ago when I was introduced to a platter of pickled salmon. Traditional Old World rollmops are good but, in my opinion, newfangled...

BONNEVILLE DAM, Ore. -- Sea lions are feasting on fish at the Bonneville Dam, and engineers are looking for ways to drive away the protected animals. About 30 sea lions surround the dam's spillways, gorging on any fish that come by. But that reportedly has minor impact on the fish runs. The problem is that at least two have figured out how to enter the fish ladders. "It's pretty amazing that they've managed to get all the way into the locks," fisherman Tom Wood told KOIN News 6. "They can take out some research equipment that they have in there....

Farmed salmon pose a major health risk to their wild cousins, according to a Canadian study that found migrating salmon were 73 times likelier to become infected by a deadly parasite when they passed by a fish pen. Biologists at the University of Alberta in Edmonton studied infections of sea lice among 5,500 juvenile pink salmon, sampled along a 60-kilometre route in British Columbia as the young fish migrated out to sea. The team netted out a pink salmon or a chum salmon every one to four kilometres (0.5 to 2.5 miles) and counted the lice on its body. The...

JUNEAU--An animal rights advocacy group is asking Gov. Frank Murkowski to make it illegal to catch and eat king salmon, Alaska's state fish. The group known as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent the request to Murkowski on Friday, saying fish are intelligent and feel pain. "Fishing is an archaic and cruel way to spend time," said Karin Robertson, manager of the PETA Fish Empathy Project. "We feel that it's only a matter of time before people consider it cruelty." Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg called the request "typical PETA propaganda." Hultberg said the request addressed Murkowski as the...

Davenport’s battered barn to stay just that Sierra Club court victory ends plan for wine and cheese shopBy GENEVIEVE BOOKWALTERSENTINEL STAFF WRITERDAVENPORT — David Luers had a dream: Buy the dilapidated barn off Highway 1, demolish it and build a wine and cheese shop he’d run with his wife. Santa Cruz County officials approved the plan, as did the state Coastal Commission.But nine years after buying the abandoned structure at Highway 1, Old Coast Road and Davenport Avenue, Luers is living in Idaho, where he’s running a gift shop and wondering how he can unload the property.Earlier this month, a...