The Osprey: Does Washington’s Statewide Steelhead Plan Matter?

 

  • Does Washington’s Statewide Steelhead Plan Matter? By Pete Soverel, pp 1 & 4-6, Issue No. 68, January 2011. The author reviews the state’s Statewide Steelhead Management Plan and its lofty goals. Three years after its passage however, WDFW appears to have ignored the plan as Soverel traces WDFW’s lack of wild steelhead management zones, its poor policy on Elwha recovery, and misguided wild broodstock management “enhancement” on the sol duc. Keywords: Snider Creek

  • Editor’s Message: Salmon and Steelhead, the International Fish, by Jim Yuskavitch, pg 2, Issue No. 68, January 2011. The Editor reminds us of how salmon and steelhead issues—ranging from harvest allocation to habitat improvement—often span many borders.

  • Chair’s Corner: Not If, but When, Salmon Farms are Moved onto Land, by Will Atlas, pg 3, Issue No. 68, January 2011. As evidence mounts against salmon farms being a source for pathogens and potentially playing a role in the Fraser river sockeye collapse, the Chair asks large salmon farms to move to closed containment systems.

  • The Battle to Stop the Enbridge Pipeline, by Andrew Williams, pp 7-10, Issue No. 68, January 2011. Williams summarizes a pipeline threat to northern BC: a pipeline would span two provinces, crossing the venerated Skeena watershed to connect with a proposed port at Kitimat. The potential for earthquakes and a history of landslides and avalanches put the pipeline at risk for breaches while a treacherous navigation route for large oil tankers puts the marine waters at risk for oil spills. Enbridge has a history of environmental damage related to its energy production. Keywords: tar sands

  • Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead Approach Key Crossroad, by Joseph Bogaard, pp 11-13, Issue No. 68, January 2011. Bogaard, of Save Our Wild Salmon, details the long trail of litigation involving fish advocates and those entrenched in the hydropower system. With recent disappointment over Obama’s lack of leadership, fish advocates await an important ruling from Judge Redden.

  • California Central Valley Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan, by Michael Martin, pp 14-17, Issue No. 68, January 2011. Martin, of the Merced Fly Fishers, reviews the decline of Chinook and steelhead in the central valley, with causes ranging from irrigation to loss of habitat to mining. He reviews the NMFS recovery plan and its shortcomings related to lack of details and implementation. Future issues include upcoming FERC relicensing efforts and lawsuits from irrigators.

  • Commentary: Wild Steelhead and Salmon Refugia, by Pete Soverel, pp 18-19, Issue No. 68, January 2011. Soverel reaffirms the importance of protecting habitat but emphasizes the underutilization of quality habitat due to overharvest and hatchery practices—two factors that humans have more immediate control over and should be priorities for fish management.

 
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