Concerning Drop In White Sturgeon Abundance Prompts Fisheries Managers To Recommend No Retention Fishing Below Bonneville Dam

February 8th, 2023

Oregon and Washington fishery agencies announced they will not propose commercial or recreational white sturgeon fishing this year downstream of Bonneville Dam due to a projected low abundance of legal-sized fish, according to a joint status report released this week by the states.

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Draft Report Documents 2022 Sea Lion Fish Predation Numbers At Bonneville Dam; Notes Huge Take Of Struggling White Sturgeon

February 8th, 2023

Sea lions continue taking a big bite out of spring fish runs at Bonneville Dam. More than 8 percent of winter steelhead and more than 3 percent of spring Chinook salmon were picked off by Steller and California sea lions that prey on the fish below the dam, according to a draft report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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How Much Are Sea Lions, Seals Contributing To Salmon Decline In Washington Waters? Will Require Targeted Lethal Removal To Find Out

January 20th, 2023

There is a “preponderance” of evidence that sea lions and seals (pinnipeds) in Washington’s Salish Sea and outer coast have contributed to the decline of salmon and steelhead in state waters, concludes a recent report by the Washington State Academy of Sciences.

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Pinniped Removal At Willamette Falls Drops Extinction Risk For Wild Winter Steelhead; 376 Sea Lions Euthanized On Columbia, Willamette Since 2008

December 16th, 2022

A program that has lethally removed sea lions from sections of the Columbia River and at Willamette Falls since 2008 is saving thousands of salmon and steelhead, many listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. The program is significantly dropping the risk of extinction for wild winter steelhead in the Willamette River, according to biologists.

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Where To Put The Birds? Research Says Cormorants Chased Off Columbia River Estuary Island Eat Far More Salmon, Steelhead Upstream

November 16th, 2022

Double-crested cormorants will eat many times more salmon and steelhead per bird as a proportion of their diet the farther they are pushed upstream in the Columbia River estuary, according to a presentation this week at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee meeting.

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Efforts Under NOAA Permit To Remove, Euthanize Salmon-Eating Sea Lions In Columbia, Willamette Rivers Showing Promising Results

July 28th, 2022

A recent report on pinniped predation shows that the presence of California sea lions at Bonneville Dam has declined significantly since 2015 when 195 of the marine mammals were observed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the dam’s tailraces. The number in 2021 was just 24.

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