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SALMON ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST
Savage Rapids Dam. On Jan. 18, 2000, ballots from Grants Pass
Irrigation
District patrons will be counted to determine whether patrons will
approve
conditions set by the District's Board for meeting demands by the OR
Water
Resources Council and NMFS to remove Savage Rapids Dam. [Portland
Oregonian,
Assoc Press]
WA Salmon Management. On Jan. 12, 2000, the U.S. Geological Survey
released
a report, outlining a stream-scoring method based on monitoring aquatic
insect life, water quality, and streamflow in Seattle's drinking water
source, the Cedar River Watershed, that will be used to balance urban
water
use with habitat protection for salmon. [U.S. Geological Survey press
release]
Cole M. Rivers Hatchery Loss. Early on the morning of Jan. 6, 2000, a
water
pump and alarm system failed at OR's Cole M. Rivers Hatchery, resulting
in
the loss of more than 1.4 million juvenile Rogue River spring chinook
salmon. This was about a 77% loss of eggs spawned at the hatchery for
this
population. [Portland Oregonian]
OR Salmon Management. On Jan. 5, 2000, an ECONorthwest economist
submitted
a report "Salmon, Timber, and the Economy" [
http://www.pacrivers.org/Publications/timber.html ] to the OR Board of
Forestry, concluding that logging restrictions to protect salmon habitat
would yield other economic benefits in tourism and recreation that could
outweigh the costs of the reduced timber harvest. This report was
prepared
for several environmental groups, including OR Trout, Portland Audubon,
and
Pacific Rivers Council. On Jan. 6, 1999, OR Governor John Kitzhaber
announced that programs under the OR salmon plan had improved salmon
habitat
by upgrading or removing more than 1,400 miles of road from service to
reduce erosion and by fencing wildlife and livestock from 400 miles of
streambank. [Portland Oregonian]
AK Salmon Dumping Case. On Jan. 5, 2000, Juneau, AK, District Court
officials announced that a May 2, 2000 trial date had been set for an
Excursion Inlet salmon canning plant and its manager charged in November
1999, with 19 misdemeanor counts of intentional salmon waste. Almost
3.2
million pounds of chum salmon carcasses were alleged to have been dumped
in
Icy Strait over a period of 19 days, after their eggs were removed (roe
stripping). [Anchorage Daily News]
BC Salmon Management. On Jan. 4, 2000, managers of Canada's Dept. of
Fisheries and Oceans released salmon forecasts for 2000, predicting a
below
average to poor harvest in all areas with limited fishery openings and
possible complete closures. The sockeye salmon fishery at the mouth of
the
Fraser River is expected to be limited or closed. For the sport
fishery,
additional restrictions may be imposed on catching chinook salmon on the
west coast of Vancouver Island. The northern commercial troll fishery
will
likely be closed for the entire season due to coho and chinook salmon
conservation concerns. However, sockeye salmon returns to the Skeena
and
Nass Rivers are expected to improve. A third round of commercial
license
buybacks ended in late December 1999. [Canadian Press]
Elk Creek Dam. On Jan. 3, 2000, the Western Environmental Law Center
filed
a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NMFS for
alleged Endangered Species Act violations for operation of Elk Creek Dam
in
the Rogue River drainage, OR. The fear is that operation of the dam is
endangering ESA-listed coho salmon. [personal communication]
Proposed Tribal Plan Exemption. On Jan. 3, 2000, NMFS published a
proposed
rule that would exempt implementation of tribal resource management
plans
from the Endangered Species Act's Section 9 take prohibitions for
threatened
salmon populations, where implementation of such plans has been
determined
to be unlikely to reduce the survival and recovery of listed salmon.
[Fed.
Register]
Salmon 4(d) Rule. NMFS published new proposed regulations in the
Federal
Register for protecting 14 populations of threatened steelhead trout and
salmon under Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act, giving state
and
local governments significant powers, on Dec. 30, 1999 (steelhead trout)
and
on Jan. 3, 2000 (salmon). Public comment will be accepted until Feb.
22,
2000 (steelhead trout) and Mar. 3, 2000 (salmon). However, some
interests
were surprised that anyone who killed, harmed, or harassed threatened
salmon
populations or their habitat could face up to a year in jail and a
$50,000
fine. A total of 22 public hearings on these proposed regulations are
scheduled between Jan. 10, 2000 and Feb. 3, 2000. [Fed. Register, Assoc
Press]
AQUACULTURE AND AQUARIA
{{GM Fish. On Jan. 22, 2000, Greenpeace International is scheduled to
release a report on environmental concerns associated with genetically
modified (GM) fish.}} [personal communication]
{{Tuna Feedlot Approval. On Jan. 20, 2000, South Australia's
Development
Assessment Commission approved plans for 42 new tuna feedlots to be
constructed and operated in Louth Bay, near Port Lincoln, South
Australia.
In response, the Conservation Council threatened to appeal this decision
to
the Supreme Court.}} [Australian Broadcasting Corp.]
Piranhas! On Jan. 12, 2000, officials of the FL Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission rejected a request from the FL Aquarium, Tampa,
for
a permit to keep and exhibit red-bellied piranhas from South America,
fearing ecological consequences should any fish escape. [Assoc Press]
Ocean Journey Investigation. In early January 2000, federal
investigators
with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) began
looking
into employee complaints that CO's Ocean Journey Aquarium had
experienced
exceptional mortalities of marine life and might be insufficiently
protecting animal welfare. Ocean Journey officials cited an initial
annual
mortality rate of 19% for fish at their facility. APHIS inspectors
responded that they had jurisdiction over marine mammals, but not fish,
at
the facility. Only fish listed as endangered or threatened species can
be
regulated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or NMFS. [Denver Post]
FRESHWATER FISHERIES
Whirling Disease. On Jan. 12, 2000, NM Dept. of Fish and Game
scientists
reported that parasites causing whirling disease had been identified for
the
first time in fish (rainbow trout) from a NM public river, the San Juan
River. [Albuquerque Journal]
Too Many Muskies? On Jan. 11, 2000, members of the Lake Miltona
Property
Owners Association testified before the MN House Environment and Natural
Resources Finance Committee, seeking to reduce state stocking of
muskellunge
in Lake Miltona, where property owners claim muskies have killed off
other
fish species. [Assoc Press]
Atlantic Salmon. In late December 1999, NMFS and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife
Service announced that the public comment period for the proposed
Endangered
Species Act listing of Atlantic salmon in ME was extended for an
additional
month, and that 2 additional public hearings were scheduled. [Assoc
Press]
MARINE MAMMALS
{Dolphin Mass Stranding. On Jan. 16, 2000, about 100 bottlenose
dolphins
became stranded in a shallow lagoon at Long Key, FL, with at least 23
dying
before volunteers and the FL Marine Patrol could free the others.} {{On
Jan. 18, 2000, an additional group of 9 bottlenose dolphins stranded at
Little Torch Key, FL, with 3 dying.}} [Miami Herald, Assoc Press, MSNBC]
{Japanese Whaling. In mid-January 2000, the Director General of Japan's
Institute of Cetacean Research informed Greenpeace that, if
confrontational
protests continue, the Captain of the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin
Maruwill, under Japanese domestic law, take Greenpeace activists into
custody.} [Japan Whaling Assoc press release]
{Keiko. In mid-January 2000, divers finished stringing a net across the
mouth of Klettsvik Bay, Iceland, where Keiko's handlers hope to release
the
orca whale from its holding pen into the enclosed bay in February 2000.}
[Assoc Press]
Mexican Salt Project. On Jan. 11, 2000, the CA Coastal Commission voted
8-1
in adopting a resolution asking Mitsubishi Corp. to withdraw plans to
build
a $120 million salt evaporation operation at Laguna San Ignacio, Mexico.
Mitsubishi officials had asked the Commission to postpone the vote.
[Assoc
Press, Los Angeles Times]
AK Sea Otters. Jan. 11, 2000 is the deadline for public comments to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a request by a consultant to 2
Japanese
aquariums to capture a up to 2 sea otters apiece from Kodiak waters for
export and public display in Japan. [Anchorage Daily News, Fed.
Register]
FL Dolphin Mortality. On Jan. 10, 2000, NOAA scientists reported that
examinations of some of the 115 dolphins that died in bays along the FL
panhandle since August 1999 show lung and respiratory tract lesions
similar
to those found in manatees determined to have died from red tide toxins
in
1996. Red tide toxins were also found in the stomach contents in some
of
the dolphins. [Assoc Press]
CA Sea Lion Deaths. The Jan. 6, 2000, issue of Nature contained an
article
concluding that the deaths of more than 400 CA sea lions between
Monterey
Bay and Morro Bay in May-June 1998 was caused by domoic acid from a
toxic
dinoflagellate plankton bloom. [San Jose Mercury, Environmental News
Network]]
CA Power Plant Mortalities. In early January 2000, NMFS officials
announced
that they were considering enforcing federal law requiring nuclear power
plants that kill or disturb endangered species and marine mammals to
obtain
permits. About 20 harbor seals, sea otters, and other marine mammals
were
reported to have died at southern CA power plants in 1999. [Assoc Press]
Dolphin-Safe? On Jan. 3, 2000, NMFS published an interim final rule in
the
Federal Register, implementing provisions of the International Dolphin
Conservation Program Act and establishing specific requirements for the
program. Public comment on the new rule will be accepted through Apr.
3,
2000. The regulations implement a new labeling standard for
dolphin-safe
tuna, effective Feb. 2, 2000, and establish requirements to track and
verify
the status of tuna imports from the eastern tropical Pacific.
[Environment
News Service, Fed. Register, Environmental News Network, Dept. of State,
Humane Society of the United States press release]
FL Manatees. On Dec. 28, 1999, Blue Spring State Park officials counted
a
record 112 manatees in the park's spring run. On Jan. 5, 2000, the FL
Marine Research Institute announced that a record high 73 manatees were
killed by boats in the first 10 months of 1999. This exceeded the
previous
record loss of 60 manatee deaths in all of 1996. On Jan. 8, 2000, the
FL
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that 268 manatees had
died during 1999, with 82 of those deaths related to watercraft
injuries.
On Jan. 13, 2000, a coalition of 19 environmental and animal protections
organizations planned to file two lawsuits in Washington, DC, and
Tallahassee, FL, against the FL Dept. of Environmental Protection and
the
federal government (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and U.S. Dept. of the Interior) for alleged failure to
protect
manatees. [Orlando Sentinel, Naples Daily News, Assoc Press, Daytona
Beach
News-Journal, Save the Manatee Club press release]
CITES and Whales. In late December 1999, the Icelandic Parliament
approved
by consensus a recommendation that the nation become a party to the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and
Flora (CITES). In accordance with CITES, Iceland lodged reservations
for 14
cetacean species listed on CITES Appendix I and II. Iceland deposited
instruments for accession to CITES within the deadline required to
obtain
voting rights at the April 2000 meeting of CITES Parties in Kenya. On
Jan.
14, 2000, officials of the European Union meeting in Brussels were to
vote
on whether or not to support a CITES petition by Japan and Norway that
would
lift the current prohibition on international trade of some whale
products.
{In mid-January 2000, the Secretariat to CITES recognized the Japanese
and
Norwegian argument that minke whales and eastern Pacific gray whales are
not
threatened with extinction and are inappropriately included on CITES
Appendix I, but provisionally recommended that a "zero quota" for minke
whale harvest be adopted if trade is permitted by Parties at the April
2000
meeting.} [High North Alliance News, Greenpeace press release, The
Antarctican]
Items in this summary are excerpted from a variety of information
sources.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is not responsible for the
accuracy
of the various news items.
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