THA JouErnal Pu blOished byS the SPteelheRad ComEmittee Y Fly Fishers International

Dedicated to the Preservation of Wild Steelhead • Issue No. 90 MAY 2018 Managing Columbia River Wild Steelhead for Extinction, Part III 2017 a Historic Low for Wild B-Runs by Pete Soverel and David Moskowitz — The Conservation Angler —

Pete Soverel is a long-time member of authorized to impact an ESA-listed without natural escapement and egg- the Steelhead Committee, and wild run and the fishery is practically deposition goals. Part III details the President and founder of The complete before the pre-season fore - depths of the record-low 2017-2018 wild Conservation Angler. Co-author Dave cast is updated. We also touch on the B-run steelhead return (and the third Moskowitz is The Conservation unaccounted for loss of wild fish lowest total return of wild steelhead Angler’s Executive Director. between the first dam encountered and past Bonneville in the period 1984 thru The Conservation Angler is a non- then again after passing eight of them. 2017. We also detail a series of conser - profit organization that partners vation measures necessary to conserve anglers with scientists to support wild wild steelhead in the Columbia and Pacific salmon and steelhead conser - Inaccurate abundance Snake River region during a new age of vation. You can learn more about The scarcity and warming waters. We Conservation Angler at: forecasts contribute to expect to examine steelhead hatch - www.theconservationangler.com eries in a coming series in The Osprey the failure to protect Journal . Thank you for reading. A Note from the Authors: wild B-Run steelhead ashington and Oregon In Part I of this series, we describe a populations. fishery managers harvest management regime that con - released the 2018 fore - siders wild steelhead stocks as aggre - casts for summer and gates passing a dam with little if any Finally we argue that the concept of fall salmon and steel - regard to stock structure, the impacts river-specific management (first pro - hWead returns in mid-March 2018. of direct harvest in commercial fish - posed by Dr. Willis Rich in the 1930s Based on this pre-season forecast, wild eries and indirect mortality from and re-imagined by Bill Bakke in 2017) steelhead numbers are anticipated to encounters in the sport fishery. In Part must replace the current regime in nudge up – indicating that 2017 will be II, we delve into the impact to wild which management is aimed to the new historic low point for wild B- steelhead, particularly the wild B-run achieve hatchery broodstock goals run steelhead in the Columbia and fish, that occurs when fisheries are while free-flowing natal rivers are Continued on Page 4

COLUMBIA ORCAS AND THOMPSON CLEARWATER STEELHEAD AND ST HELENS INFECTED IN THIS B-RUN SALMON RIVER B-RUN SEA LIONS MINING THREAT ATLANTICS — PAGE 1 — — PAGE 3 — — PAGE 8 — — PAGE 10 — — PAGE 12 — — PAGE 15 — — PAGE 17 — ISSUE: 2 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 FROM THE PERCH — A SPECIAL MESSAGE Big News for The Osprey THE OSPChRair EY and Its Loyal Supporters Ryan Smith Editor by Pete Soverel, Steelhead Committee Jim Yuskavitch

’m pleased to inform our loyal readership of wild fish advocates that there Contributing Editors are dramatic changes for The Osprey commencing with the September Pete Soverel • Bill Redman 2018 issue. Since its inception in 1986, The Osprey has been produced and Doug Schaad • Ryan Smith Steelhead Committee of Fly Fishers International (for- published by the Contributors merly the Federation of Fly Fishers). Several prominent conservation Iorganizations — The Conservation Angler, Steelhead Society of British Pete Soverel • David Moskowitz Columbia, World Salmon Forum, Wild Steelhead Coalition, Skeena Wild, Wild Joseph Bogaard • Robert Hooton Steelhead Coalition — have joined in partnership with Fly Fishers International Linwood Laughy • Conrad Gowell to expand the content, reach and impact of The Osprey on Pacific salmon and Jennifer Fairbrother • Matt Little steelhead conservation. In addition to expanded content, the new Osprey will be Patrick Meyers printed on higher quality paper. It will remain black and white. The partners have formed an editorial committee that will mold the content of Design & Layout The Osprey and assist the editor in securing authors. A number of prominent Jim Yuskavitch biologists have agreed to serve as scientific advisors — Jack Stanford, Rick Williams, Jim Lichatowich, Bill Bakke and Bill McMillan. We know where the Letters To The Editor bodies are buried and we are going to be digging them up. The Osprey welcomes letters to the The editorial committee has selected three priority issues –—hatchery-wild editor. Submissions are also welcome fish interactions; steelhead persistence & climate change and; steelhead manage- but queries in advance are preferred . ment regimes (harvest models, preserving/expanding angling opportunity, recovery following dam removal). Each of these issues will be explored in each The Osprey of the next six to nine issues of The Osprey. Other articles in areas of interest will 69278 Lariat fill out each issue. Sisters, OR 97759 I have been involved with The Osprey since its inception as a contributor, chair- [email protected] man of the Steelhead Committee for 10 years, and member of the editorial board (541) 549-8914 for the past 30 years. I am very excited about The Osprey’s future and its role as the authoritative source for steelhead conservation. We don’t have much time to The Osprey is a publication of Fly save steelhead from extinction. For example, last year only 350 wild, B-run steel- Fishers International and is published head made it back to Idaho’s 15,000 miles of habitat. three times a year in January, May and We appreciate sincerely your many years of support for The Osprey and hope September. All materials are copyright - you will continue in the future. The expanded publication needs your financial ed and require permission prior to support. Please consider a gift to The Osprey: The International Journal of reprinting or other use. Steelhead Conservation. You will find our contribution form on page 19. The Osprey © 2018 ISSN 2334-4075

Fly Fishers International is a unique non-profit organization concerned with sport fishing and fisheries Visit The Osprey on the Web at: Fly Fishers International (FFI) supports conser - vation of all fish in all waters. FFI has a long www.ospreysteelhead.org standing commitment to solving fisheries prob - lems at the grass roots. By charter and inclina - tion, FFI is organized from the bottom up; each of The Osprey Blog: its 360+ clubs, all over North America and the world, is a unique and self-directed group. The www.ospreysteelheadnews.blogspot.com grass roots focus reflects the reality that most fisheries solutions must come Fly Fishers International at that local level. www.flyfishersinternational.org THE OSPREY IS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER USING SOY INK THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 3 GUEST’S CORNER Endangered Southern Resident Orcas Reshape Debate over Salmon Restoration

by Joseph Bogaard — Save Our Wild Salmon — This issue’s guest columnist is Joseph face. Fecal sample analyses, for exam - extinction without significant immedi - Bogaard, Executive Director of Save ple, has determined that the Southern ate action. Our Wild Salmon Coalition, which has Residents rely on Chinook salmon for The National Oceanic and been advocating for wild Columbia and roughly 80 percent of their diet. Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Snake river wild salmon and steelhead Satellite tracking data confirms that in however, has long been part of the for decades. Learn more about their a typical year they spend about half of problem. In its 2008 orca recovery work at: www.wildsalmon.org their time in the Salish Sea, hunting for plan, NOAA acknowledges orcas’ his - salmon bound mainly for the Fraser toric reliance on Columbia Basin outhern Resident Killer River in British Columbia, but other Chinook and describes its population Whales have been plying the lesser rivers as well. From fall to declines as “[p]erhaps the single great - coastal waters of the Pacific spring, these whales are often found est change in food availability for resi - Northwest for a very long cruising the West Coast, searching for dent killer whales since the late time. Genetic research tells salmon there. They show a particular 1800s...” Despite publicly acknowledg - uSs this salmon-eating community of ing this fact a decade ago, NOAA has whales diverged from the other local approved inadequate, illegal salmon population of orcas — the mammal-eat - Southern resident plans for the Columbia and Snake ing Transients — a few hundred thou - rivers dating back to the 1990s. Their sand years ago. Until recently, a diet orcas rely on Chinook claim: hatchery production today focused almost exclusively on Chinook makes up for the depressed wild salmon appears to have been a very for 80 percent of their Chinook numbers and no big policy successful strategy. Abundant, large, diet, and reproductive changes — such as lower Snake River and fatty, Chinook have been swim - dam removal — are needed. ming through these same waters for at success is tied to Unfortunately for NOAA, the law, the least as long. science and the real world all tell a But all that’s changed in the last few Chinook abundance. very different story. Leveraging the decades. Habitat destruction driven by string of recent deaths (eight individ - short-term thinking and an under- ual whales have died in just the last appreciation of the value and benefits affinity for the Washington coast and two years) and accumulating informa - of intact, functional, resilient ecosys - mouth of the Columbia River on the tion, orca and salmon advocates have tems has caused our region’s most Oregon-Washington border, not only in joined forces of behalf of both these iconic native fish to plummet toward winter and spring, but also opportunis - iconic and imperiled species to press extinction. Across the west coast, two- tically at other times of the year Northwest policymakers to act. At a dozen salmon and steelhead popula - depending on what fish are present. time of tremendous urgency when tions are listed under the Endangered Orca reproductive success is strong - every individual whale matters, there Species Act, with thirteen in the ly tied to Chinook abundance. are some signs of hope. Many elected Columbia River Basin alone. Hormone analyses by the University officials now acknowledge the crisis, And the Southern Resident orcas that of Washington’s renowned conserva - and signs of leadership are starting to rely on them are suffering as a result. tion biologist Sam Wasser has found emerge. Today, these beloved whales are at a that these whales are often highly In March, Washington’s Democratic 30-year population low, and just 76 “nutritionally stressed” (aka starving) Governor Jay Inslee established a new individual whales remain today. and that more than 60 percent of their Emergency Orca Task Force. This new Without big changes in Northwest nat - pre-term calves spontaneously abort. body, made up of diverse experts and ural resource policies, many experts They have not produced a calf since stakeholders from across the state, fear we will lose this unique and 2015. convened for the first time on May 1 beloved community of whales forever. Faced with an already-endangered 2018 in Olympia. They are tasked with Research in just the last five years population suffering new losses, identifying and recommending no has both shed new light on their natur - NOAA in 2015 identified the Southern later than this fall legislative and other al history and provided insight into a Residents as among eight endangered actions that the state can and should number of the specific challenges they species nationally most likely to go Continued on page 19 4 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90

B-Run Steelhead principle drivers of harvest manage - assessments of Idaho’s steelhead popu - Continued from page 1 ment and regulation in the Columbia lations. All of Idaho’s populations are and Snake Rivers. Managers try to considered to have a high risk of Snake Basins. estimate wild abundance for a species extinction within 100 years (probabili - The 2018 forecast calls for 48,200 wild with a wonderfully complex life histo - ty >25%) based on the estimated abun - steelhead to pass Bonneville Dam. This ry, a broad and diverse historic spawn - dances and productivities.” exceeds the 32,625 wild steelhead that ing region, and a spawning timing that Despite the continuing conservation passed Bonneville in 2017; however makes them difficult to track and concerns about wild steelhead they there is little cause for celebration as observe while in the act of reproduc - will not receive the benefit of any the 2018 forecast is not even 50% of ing. rules reducing the encounter rates in the current ten-year average of The inability to accurately forecast the sport or tribal fishery. One would 101,300 wild steelhead. their abundance (See Table 2, below) think that the low steelhead forecast and a conservation-limited Chinook Table 1. 2018 Forecast and 2017 Actual Runs of wild A-run and B-run Steelhead to fishery would translate into some “sav - Bonneville Dam ings” for wild salmon and steelhead produced by lower bag limits and fewer encounters – but you would be wrong. One year after an historic low, fishery managers have not proposed any conservation measures like the time and area closures they relied on to protect the historic low wild B-run in 2017. In 1962, nearly 43,200 wild B-run steelhead were counted as they Wild B-run steelhead crossing nor make mid-season run updates in crossed a small, long gone dam just Bonneville Dam are predicted to total the midst of authorized and on-going three miles upstream from the 3,400 fish, a forecast three times the commercial and sport fishing seasons Clearwater River’s confluence with 2017 forecast of 1,100 wild B-run fish, that are based on the pre-season fore - the Snake River in Lewiston. Yet the though it is only 33% of the current casts, is contributing to the failure to 2017-2018 run will total fewer than 500 fish to the Clearwater and its undammed tributaries, a decline from Table 2: Pre-season Forecasts of wild B-run steelhead to Bonneville Dam with Actual the early 1960s of 99%. Returns as percent of forecast Fishery managers have been count - ing fish at Bonneville Dam since the 1940s, and their official count of wild B-run fish over Bonneville Dam in 2017 is 751 from July through November. As of early February, 362 of those fish crossed Lower Granite Dam. Past research demonstrates that approximately 95% of the total run over Lower Granite Dam is normally complete by December 31, meaning that Idaho can expect a total 2017-18 wild B-run steelhead run over Lower Granite of likely fewer than 500 wild fish. The majority of that group of wild B-run steelhead will migrate up the Clearwater (about two-thirds) while about one-third of the wild B-run fish that cross Lower Granite will migrate to the Salmon River. As a result, we ten-year average for wild B-runs protect and rebuild wild steelhead pop - can fairly reliably estimate that the (10,384 fish in the 2007-2016 period). ulations in the Columbia and Snake total 2017-2018 Clearwater River wild The challenge of predicting the annu - River, and indeed, driving these fish to B-run steelhead will be in the neigh - al return of wild steelhead to the extinction. borhood of fewer than 300 fish, and Columbia and Snake Basin is daunting, The fishery managers know this is possibly 200 wild B-run steelhead to yet it is the annual abundance of wild the case, as clearly stated by Idaho in the Salmon River. steelhead – particularly wild B-run 2017: “Abundance and productivity Pause for a moment to reflect on steelhead – that remains one of the data are of primary importance in ESA Continued on next page THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 5

Continued from previous page percent will not survive being caught low angler effort. Even if true, that and released. And when many wild does not necessarily equate to low those numbers. fish will be caught, even though there encounter rates. Avid and skilled steel - These few prized wild B-run steel - are fewer of them, you can assume head anglers are likely to fish even head have been joined by a modest that a percentage of the wild B-run with low abundance because they number of A-run wild steelhead (steel - steelhead will not survive the know how to catch steelhead and they head smaller than 30 inches) and a encounter. This means that even fewer know where to find them. The best modest number of hatchery fish that wild B-run steelhead will survive to anglers will still pursue steelhead returned in numbers large enough to spawn in the Clearwater and Salmon while the low counts will only deter the calm the nerves of hatchery managers Rivers in 2018. And while some casual angler. It would be helpful if who were initially worried that the angling encounters may not be lethal, there is a formula to calculate angler steelhead return would not meet hatch - research shows that some of the wild effort based on steelhead run-size. ery broodstock needs. Despite easing steelhead caught in this fishery may be 2. Encounter Rate: The encounter rate the hatchery manager’s concerns, less successful in their efforts to for wild steelhead is likely higher than there do not appear to be any goals for spawn, further reducing the overall the encounter rate for the more abun - wild steelhead escapement nor wild wild fish productivity. dant hatchery fish, which means that egg deposition objectives for the indi - The Conservation Angler believes anglers encountering steelhead will vidual rivers to which the wild steel - that Washington, Oregon and Idaho’s likely encounter more wild steelhead head will return. Idaho has shown con - winter and spring steelhead fisheries than hatchery steelhead, though the cern about this issue in the past, should have been curtailed. There is ratio of hatchery-to wild steelhead is though there is little evidence they are good reason for concern. skewed the other way. working to achieve them: The 2017-2018 B-run index (hatchery 3. Habitat Partitioning: State managers “Comparative escapement and resul - and wild B-runs) will be 50% lower noted evidence that wild and hatchery tant juvenile production data for Idaho than the four lowest previous index steelhead are quite partitioned within streams should be presented to counts in the 1984-2017 period (1994, the available habitat. While this is pos - Columbia River Compact agencies to 1995, 1999 and 2013). The 2017-2018 sible given the attraction of hatchery inform them of the inadequacy of wild B-run return over Lower Granite fish to hatchery facilities, it is not uni - Snake River and Columbia River Dam will very likely be less than 50% form across all rivers. Indeed, in group-B escapement objectives. There of the previous low count (914 wild B- NOAA’s 2015 Five Year Review of ESA- is a critical need to modify Columbia run steelhead in 1999-2000) in the 1984- listed salmon and steelhead popula - River Compact group-B wild steelhead 2017 periods. The return of wild B-run tions, the number of hatchery fish escapement objectives. The escape - steelhead to Bonneville Dam will be spawning with wild steelhead in Idaho ment objective of 13,300 at Bonneville 41% of the previous low (1,847 wild B- is among the major risk factors wild Dam and 10,000 at Lower Granite Dam run fish) in 1995. These comparisons Snake River steelhead face in multiple results in extremely low seeding levels are drawn from data in the February sub-basins. Why did fishery managers for Idaho’s group-B steelhead produc - 20, 2018 Joint Staff Report: Stock note this issue as a positive factor tion streams.” Status and Fisheries for Spring when partitioning among wild and The gauntlet wild fish face is wors - Chinook, Summer Chinook, Sockeye, hatchery steelhead was described as a ened by the sport fisheries Steelhead and Other Species (ODFW major risk factor by NOAA? Washington, Oregon and Idaho permit - and WDFW). The bottom line numbers 4. Status of the 2017-2018 run: State ted and then opened further to a three- show that likely fewer than 500 wild B- managers still expected wild and hatchery fish daily limit once it run steelhead will return past Lower hatchery steelhead to cross over became clear that the hatchery fish Granite Dam for the 2017-18 run-year, Lower Granite Dam before the run would return in large enough numbers and anglers will likely reduce the num - year ends in June. However, accord - that hatchery managers would meet ber of wild steelhead on the spawning ing to the Fish Passage Center (FPC), their egg-take goals. However sport grounds since the three states allowed ninety-five percent of the wild B-run fishing effort results in higher encoun - continued fishing on steelhead all the steelhead pass Lower Granite Dam by ters with wild fish even though they way through April 31. year-end (December 31, 2017). Given are outnumbered by their hatchery Adding urgency to the concern over the reported visual count to date, the cousins. the low steelhead return is a mid-2017 remaining five percent yet to pass into Data in Oregon and Idaho shows that NOAA finding that ocean survival will the rivers above Lower Granite Dam steelhead anglers hoping to catch only remain very poor for at least two more will not measurably increase the final hatchery keepers will typically years. year-end count - even reaching 500 encounter twice as many wild fish as Faced with these numbers, state wild B-run steelhead for the 2017-2018 hatchery fish, even though there are managers raised several issues as run year would be a pleasant surprise. fewer wild fish in the rivers. Wild rational for not taking action. Since 5. Size, Fitness, Fecundity: Finally, steelhead are simply more aggressive each point raises further concerns, state managers believe that many of and better biters than the hatchery The Conservation Angler addressed the wild A-run steelhead passing product. individually. Lower Granite Dam were actually wild What happens when an angler hooks 1. Angler Effort: State managers stat - B-run steelhead that failed to grow those wild fish? Approximately 5 to 10 ed there was “anecdotal” evidence of Continued on next page 6 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90

Continued from previous page then use those models to moderate in- that real-time catch data can be used to season fisheries as is done in Bristol open or close fishing to allow pas - beyond the 78 cm length that would Bay. These models can easily be con - sage of wild fish through fisheries and visually identify them as wild B-run structed with the abundance of pas - to reach spawning grounds. fish. This was attributed to poor ocean sage data at the various 12. Eliminate the use of side-planers conditions and disruptions to the Columbia/Snake dams. Such an anywhere angling is allowed from marine food web. If this is true, it is approach last year would have quickly floating devices to reduce encounter actually an even more critical uncer - identified the dire condition of wild rates and instill the hunting concepts tainty and risk factor facing the 2017- Snake B-run steelhead and forced con - of “fair chase” into angling. 2018 wild B-run fish. The smaller “B- servation measures to protect them. minus” B-run steelhead will likely In short, the current methods used to II. Conservation Measures for 2018 exhibit less fitness and be unable to develop annual fishery plans are bank - Columbia and Snake Basin select and spawn in the best B-run rupt and are leading inevitably to Commercial and Treaty Fisheries spawning areas where the depth, cur - extinction of wild stocks, even if they rent and cobble size provide conditions meet ESA limits. As agencies move to The following conservation measures that contribute to wild B-run life histo - implement the long over-due changes for use by the non-treaty and treaty ry diversity. Lastly and significantly, outlined above, they must take a num - commercial fisheries will conserve the smaller fish will have fewer eggs ber of short-term conservation mea - wild salmon and steelhead, including so even if they spawn successfully, sures to prevent near-term extinctions closures, if wild fish escapement is at there will be significantly less egg in the Columbian and Snake basin fish - risk of not being met in upstream trib - deposition per redd than if this year’s eries: utaries. wild B-run steelhead were products of better marine conditions (a wish) and I. Conservation Measures for 2018 1. Develop temporal structure for all returned in greater abundance (a fact). Columbia and Snake Basin Fisheries Columbia/Snake wild stocks to be used This egg deposition deficit will be to construct fisheries that will facili - magnified by the loss of even a few 1. Identify Cold Water Refugia areas tate recovery of the ESA-listed stocks wild B-run steelhead in Idaho’s 2018 (119 areas have been identified, 13 are and prevent disruption of healthy, non- steelhead fishery. high priorities). listed stocks. An additional point TCA raised is 2. Create 13 Sanctuaries where fishing 2. All commercial fisheries will occur equity. Snake River basin anglers are is prohibited to protect migrating only on alternating days so catch data at the end of the line. There is a litany steelhead. is analyzed. of fishery encounters that reduce the 3. Require that wild fish must be 3. All fishing shall be during daylight number of steelhead that pass into the released and remain in the water when hours Snake River. TCA has consistently landed for all shore fisheries. 4. Fishing only permitted with a statis - called for angling closures and restric - 4. Barbless hooks in all fisheries to tically valid observer, monitoring and tions in all three states in the Columbia facilitate safe fish release and mini - creel program basin during the 2017 - 2018 fishing mize hook injuries. 5. No fishing permitted in any area seasons to protect wild steelhead. 5. Anglers to rack rods after limiting that is used as thermal refugia by (rescind “party boat rule) to reduce steelhead or salmon Proposed Measures to Conserve Wild encounter rates. 6. Soak time for drift gill nets shall be Steelhead Throughout the Columbia 6. Suspend multi-species bag limits to limited to 20 minutes and Snake Basins reduce encounter rates. 7. Use of most selective gear and 7. Protect established spawning areas recovery boxes will be required. First and foremost, federal, state, during spawning seasons in all areas to and tribal management agencies must reduce encounter rate and increase III. Tribal, State and Federal prioritize and manage for wild escape - productivity of wild fish escaping to Coordination Needed for Wild B-Run ment – not hatchery needs or harvest spawn in natal streams. Steelhead Conservation goals. Current management does not 8. Eliminate the use of bait in all fish - value wild fish. eries where wild salmon or steelhead In addition, TCA also recommends Second, the frequently unreliable are required to be released to reduce development of a multi-party manage - forecast methodology insures excess C&R mortality and reduce the overall ment program to recover wild B-run mortality for wild stocks. For example, encounter rate. steelhead. Closing the fisheries that the average forecast for Snake B-run 9. Establish statistically valid and real- encounter wild B-run steelhead will wild steelhead exceeds actual by an time observer programs for sport fish - not, by themselves, recover the wild B- average of 50%. This egregiously opti - ing so that estimates of encounter run steelhead in the Snake River. mistic forecast guarantees excess rate and mortality rates can be confi - Oregon must join with Washington and mortality for wild stocks, especially in dently used in models. Idaho and the Treaty Tribes to consider the absence of meaningful in-season 10. Require use of recovery boxes in and adopt an interstate recovery plan adjustments to fisheries plans. sport fleet boats to reduce release mor - that addresses biological recovery Third, agencies must develop tempo - tality for fish requiring release. actions for B-run steelhead. ral structure for all wild stocks and 11. Manage sport fishing seasons so Continued on next page THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 7

Continued from previous page from the wild populations. Better rele - in 2017, yet their joint effort to have vant information could be used to lift the standard mortality rates changed any angling and fish-handling limits or based on a single season of observa - IV. Proposed Wild B-run Steelhead to open fisheries that have been closed tions and data-collection is unwarrant - Conservation and Recovery due to perceived high encounter and ed. The Coastal Conservation Agreement mortality rates. Association has detailed the rational It is inconceivable that fisheries why this rushed effort to approve a 1. Closure of all Columbia and Snake requiring release of wild steelhead are new, lower standard is improper, not River thermal refuges to all fisheries. not contributing to the reduced sur - scientifically valid and must be cate - Wild steelhead spend days and weeks vival of wild B-run steelhead. Idaho gorically denied by the US v. Oregon in some thermal refugia and should be relies on studies examining mortality Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). afforded shelter from angling. in summer and fall resident trout fish - The Columbia River is managed for a 2. Establish an inter-state recovery eries to extrapolate impacts to steel - mixed-stock (different species with agreement for B-run steelhead head caught and released in fall, win - different population abundance) non- approved by NOAA. That agreement ter and spring weather, when anglers selective (meaning fishers cannot must be based on the best available are more likely to harm a wild steel - avoid fish they may not or cannot har - biological information with the objec - head in freezing air temperatures than vest or release safely) fishery that tive to recover the threatened species in mild summer-fall trout fishery relies on flawed forecasting, poor in- and establish river-specific spawner weather. season monitoring and enforcement, escapement criteria and egg deposi - Applicable findings are primarily no accounting for environmental con - tion criteria for each natal stream. found in the Atlantic salmon scientific ditions and, ultimately, with no assur - 3. These criteria are to be verified with literature. Catch and release fisheries ance that wild fish actually reach their parr abundance objectives (full seed - cause direct mortality as well as home rivers to spawn. This all quite ing) by natal stream. depressed reproductive success due to clear based on NOAA’s Fishery 4. The states and NOAA will provide an fall back, delayed migration, and Science Center’s latest review pub - annual report for the public on meet - reduced length of migration after lished in late 2015, before factoring in ing wild spawner escapement, egg release. Additional studies have recent poor returns: “Four out of the deposition and parr abundance criteria shown that warmer water tempera - five MPGs [Major Population Groups] by natal stream. tures increase detrimental effects of are not meeting the specific objectives 5. Habitat restoration and protection is catch and release and that larger fish in the draft Recovery Plan based on to be focused on spawning and rearing have been found to have particularly the updated status information avail - habitat for B-run steelhead. reduced reproductive success after able for this review, and the status of 6 Fishway maintenance closures must catch and release. many individual populations remains be coordinated to contribute to the uncertain….. A great deal of uncertain - migration of wild B-run steelhead. 8. Failure to mark hatchery steelhead ty still remains regarding the relative These fish over-winter in the Columbia is compromising efforts to monitor proportion of hatchery fish in natural and Snake rivers before migrating to steelhead abundance, diversity and spawning areas near major hatchery their natal rivers to reproduce. escapement estimates. All hatchery- release sites within individual popula - Fishway work should not block migra - produced steelhead must be marked tions. Overall, the information ana - tion of steelhead responding to the cue before release. Fishery researchers lyzed for this status review does not of increasing water temperatures. from Idaho have said it best: “Finally, indicate a change in biological risk sta - 7. All three states must commit to eval - the issue of non-adipose-clipped hatch - tus.” uate the effects of fishing on wild ery fish in window counts of ‘wild All wild steelhead, both A-run and B- steelhead survival. steelhead’ needs resolution. Hatchery- run fish, are precious and unique jew - origin fish composed 46% of the els and need every possible opportuni - A thorough investigation of encounter unmarked catch in the Lower Granite ty to spawn successfully. The ongoing rates should be conducted to deter - Dam adult trap. Window counts at the and existing Columbia and Snake mine risk to wild B-run steelhead in dam included these fish with wild River sport and commercial fishery sport fisheries for hatchery steelhead. steelhead, greatly inflating wild steel - will cause mortalities to the wild steel - ODFW has identified encounter rates head escapement estimates. Obviously, head returns now and into the future for wild steelhead to be 2 -5 times even given that resolution of genetic without significant changes. greater for wild fish in a river com - stock identification is sufficient, the It is past time to stop fishing for pared to hatchery fish (ODFW methodology of developing wild steel - steelhead late in the season and in Deschutes and Alsea rivers data). A head escapement estimates must be staging and spawning areas when runs coordinated evaluation of encounter refined in order to produce statistical - are well below historic and even recent rates, mortality of fish released based ly valid and accurate counts.” abundance levels - until real changes on water temperature, impacts on sur - 9. Estimating mortality in commercial are made in our harvest, hatchery, vival, and their effect on achieving net fisheries must be more rigorously water withdrawal and hydropower wild spawner criteria are all poorly evaluated. Oregon and Washington practices in the Columbia and Snake understood. With the wild population increased their rate of on-board moni - rivers. so low, the precautionary principle toring of commercial gillnet fisheries demands that the risk be shifted away 8 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90

The Thompson River’s Last Stand as Wild Steelhead Numbers Plummet By Robert Hooton — Nanaimo, British Columbia —

Robert Hooton retired as supervisor of certainty is it hasn’t been a happy governments pushing harder than ever the Fish and Wildlife Section for the place for salmon and steelhead in to build voting capital by being seen as British Columbia Ministry of recent years. Blame “the blob”, north - atoning for the injustices of our forefa - Environment’s Vancouver Island ern extension of the range of voracious thers. Pile on the United Nations regional office in 2008. predators such as mackerel and pom - Declaration on the Rights of pano, competition for food from matur - Indigenous Peoples to add momentum ecent months have seen a ing hatchery salmon originating from to what was already growing exponen - virtual tidal wave of infor - the far western Pacific and commer - tially. Almost everyone on the streets mation trading back and cial fisheries that intercept steelhead of Vancouver hears about indigenous forth over the status of after they spin off from their annual rights on a daily basis. Almost no one one of British Columbia’s cycle through the Gulf of Alaska and has ever heard of steelhead. Rtreasures, Thompson River steelhead. head for the Fraser River approaches. In the political arena the force Never in almost six decades of associ - All are factors, to be sure. Some con - majeure is reconciliation. For coastal ation with steelhead in this province First Nations, fish are clearly becom - have I seen anywhere near the level of ing currency in that respect. In the concern over a steelhead stock. That is The downward trend court of public opinion one dares not a very good thing and one can only suggest this is not a good thing. My hope the eleventh hour pressure now in the abundance of point is the supply of fish is diminish - developing will make a difference to ing and the demand increasing. The the future of these magnificent fish. Thompson River fish is two lines crossed years ago with That said, let’s examine the guts of the respect to Fraser River bound steel - issue. well understood. head, regardless of who has the legal First stop — it isn’t just those or political nod to catch them. Today is Thompson fish. From a pure science tend the ocean is less important than not about allocation, it’s about sustain - perspective they are but one of a group water starved juvenile rearing habitat ability and conservation. known as the Interior Fraser Steelhead in Thompson tributaries. To those I Ah, but we have all the conservation (IFS). The distant and long forgotten say, the highly productive steelhead oriented process and law to save Chilcotin stock is among them as are rearing habitat of the Chilcotin is any - endangered species like Thompson much smaller and even more forgotten thing but short on water and that stock and Chilcotin steelhead. Enter the stocks from the Nahatlatch, Stein, is even worse off than is the Committee on the Status of Bridge and Seton rivers. All the atten - Thompson. Endangered Wildlife in Canada tion is focused on the Thompson, most - For as long as I can remember as a (COSEWIC). These highly respected ly because it is within a day’s drive of member of the government agency scientists performed an emergency Vancouver and it is, or was, the largest responsible for steelhead management assessment of the status of those steel - stock among all the IFS. The Chilcotin (in fresh water at least), the commer - head and recommended to Canada’s once enjoyed an equal reputation but cial fishing industry was held to be the Minister of Environment and Climate one would be hard pressed to find a single greatest factor controlling the Change an endangered listing. half dozen anglers of the modern era abundance of Thompson steelhead. I’ll Subsequent steps are described ad who know anything of that. Shed a tear. agree the case in support of that was nauseam in a couple of blog pieces I’ve Keeping in mind that most of what strong at one time. Whereas the com - prepared so I won’t confuse things by follows with respect to Thompson mercial fishery doesn’t get a pass trying to summarize them again here steelhead applies equally to those today, it has been eclipsed by the First (www.steelheadvoices.com). Suffice to other IFS stocks, let’s look more care - Nations fisheries prosecuted within the say due process is highly unlikely to fully at where we stand. Fraser River. Call it the elephant in the secure the endangered species listing The downward trend in abundance of room. Here’s the reality. that would obligate the federal govern - Thompson fish is well understood. The The First Nations population of ment to introduce the sorts of protec - forces contributing to that trend have British Columbia is roughly 4% (5% if tion measures that could save what all been acknowledged but I’ll offer Inuit and Metis are included) of the remains of IFS. Even if the endangered their relative influence is nowhere provincial total but, by far, the listing was brought forward according near appreciated. The ocean is always youngest and fastest growing segment the great unknown. All we can say with of that total. Coincidentally, we have Continued on next page THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 9

Continued from previous page of interest within the provincial gov - no significant transgressions were ernment itself. detected so the MSC beat goes on. to the timetable one can tease out of Anyone not familiar with the green The last point I’ll make around the the plethora of background material on washing marketing tool that MSC cer - chum fishery is it is focused on such matters, we would endure at least tification is all about might want to enhanced stocks that return to lower another two or three seasons of the sta - consider a quote from an excellent Fraser tributaries at the worst possible tus quo. review article published in Biological time in terms of the overlap with IFS The Department of Fisheries and Conservation 161 (2013) 10-17. run timing. The chum fishery is all Oceans (DFO) would have us believe “During its 15 years, the MSC, which about roe, the value of which is enor - they are doing everything possible to has an annual budget of close to US$20 mous in offshore markets. The carcas - protect IFS. They are pursuing new million, has attached its logo to more es are little more than pet food and computer models that assess the than 170 fisheries. These certifications prawn bait. Any reference to FNs tar - “exposure” of IFS to commercial fish - have not occurred without protest. geting chums for “Food, Social and ing nets along their migration path Despite high costs and difficult proce - Ceremonial” purposes acknowledged from Johnstone Strait through the dures, conservation organizations and under Canada’s Constitution is smoke lower Fraser River. What that means is other groups have filed and paid for 19 and mirrors. The Firt Nations fisheries they are reviewing past data on where formal objections to MSC fisheries cer - impacting IFS are now formally and when catches of IFS occurred and tifications. Only one objection has been referred to by DFO as “Economic calculating the time over which they upheld such that the fishery was not Opportunity” fisheries. What makes would be present in the conventional certified. … An analysis of the formal matters even worse is DFO is quick to commercial seine and gill net fishing objections indicates that the MSC’s impose restrictions and even closures areas. Then they are talking about principles for sustainable fishing are on harvesting the two species long “rolling 3 or 4 week closure windows” too lenient and discretionary, and known as the only significant food tar - to protect 80% of the run from harvest allow for overly generous interpreta - get of the FNs — Chinook and sockeye. “with a high degree of certainty”. No tion by third-party certifiers and adju - Foregone opportunity on those tradi - one I know who is familiar with the IFS dicators, which means that the MSC tional species whose run timing pre - migration routes and timing is the label may be misleading both con - cedes steelhead pushes the FN fish - least bit comfortable with such desk sumers and conservation funders”. eries later into the year so they can driven exercises. First, IFS are pre - I don’t use the term co-conspirators capitalize on dollars from chum roe, sent for 10 or more weeks, not 3 or 4. without reason. The chum fisheries, rather than protein from sockeye and Second, protecting 80% of the run is a both commercial and First Nations, chinook, while wreaking havoc on what bit of a different story when there are dominate what remains of the BC’s little remains of IFS. only 200 fish present as opposed to sev - salmon fisheries. DFO and the provin - More on process. DFO now prepares eral thousand that occupied those cial Agriculture people would have a massive documents titled Interim same migration corridors and times lot less to manage and market without Fisheries Management Plans (IFMPs). not long ago. Third, what does a high them. DFO performs token enforce - These are circulated in draft form to degree of certainty mean? Fourth, ment patrols in both tidal and non-tidal “stakeholders” that they consider to what about those in-river First Nations waters to police commercial vessel represent the full spectrum of fish - fisheries? Fifth, the provincial govern - license requirements that specify eries interests. The 2018 document of ment voice representing steelhead in recovery boxes and circulating pumps interest to IFS is 587 pages. I submit these private discussions is the must be operational at all times when there are damned few of us volunteers Ministry of Agriculture, not the steel - fishing and all non-target species, out here with the time and dollars to head management agency known as which generally includes sockeye, process that material and attend all the the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Chinook and wild coho salmon, and meetings in far away places to ask pen - Resource Operations and Rural steelhead, must be resuscitated and etrating questions. Nonetheless that Development or FLNRORD (does that released unharmed. They brag that IFMP and the so called consultation sound like emasculation of any steel - these are selective fishing methods around it is all the federal government head management capability?). Those that have been in place since 2002. needs to have its way. Steelhead have Agriculture people are co-conspirators Look at the above figure for evidence never and will never be given their due with DFO in the issue that drives the of how that’s been working for in any IFMP. The abundance trend for commercial fishery and, by extension, Thompson steelhead. A recent presen - IFS shouts volumes in that regard. the First Nations fisheries. That issue tation by a top official in DFO’s And, if that isn’t depressing enough, is the certification of the Fraser River enforcement division revealed the consider that any conditions around chum fisheries as sustainable under enforcement effort in 2017 was the First Nations fisheries are negotiated the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) lowest in the past four years. Our man independent of IFMP processes. guidelines and process. Add on the fact also stated plainly that the enforce - Instead, the First Nations along the IFS those Agriculture people are also ment patrols in the Johnstone Strait migration corridor — upwards of 40 of responsible for licensing the shore area were intended to satisfy all com - them between Vancouver and the based fish processors, as well as mar - ers that the commercial fisheries were Thompson steelhead spawning desti - keting British Columbia seafood prod - “clean” and thus the MSC conditions nations — deal separately with DFO in ucts, and there is just a bit of a conflict for certification upheld. Predictably, Continued on next page 10 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 Continued from previous page On the Edge: Wild Clearwater forums where there has never been a steelhead management voice present. An agency with a sad history of addressing steelhead concerns part - River B-Run Steelhead nered with a large number of indepen - dent First Nations who do not hold steelhead and steelhead angling in high By Linwood Laughy regard does not breed optimism. — Moscow, Idaho — What can we do? Cancelling the MSC certification would be entirely benefi - Author Linwood Laughy is an Idaho- the experience at Bonneville Dam, this cial but the best sources I can tap into based wild salmon and steelhead advo - office does not concur with this on that subject tell me the armour cate. unfounded opinion.” around the MSC certification process is The actual destruction of the all but bullet proof. That paper refer - n the mid-1950s, I often Clearwater’s B-run steelhead began in enced above is evidence enough of watched Clearwater River B- 1956. The U.S. Corps of Engineers con - that. The alternative is to go after the run steelhead leap from pool to structed Ice Harbor Dam 1956-1961; major buyers of fish from MSC certi - pool ascending the fish ladder Lower Monumental Dam, 1961-1969; fied fisheries in BC. That holds on the north end of the Little Goose Dam, 1963-1970; Lower IWashington Water Power Dam three Granite Dam, 1965-1973. In 1973 the promise. The other avenue of hope is legal action to force the federal gov - miles upstream from the river’s completion of Dworshak Dam on the ernment to live by its own rules mouth. According to the Idaho Clearwater’s North Fork struck anoth - regarding endangered species status, Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), er blow. and protective measures that status in the 1950s and early ‘60s, 40,000 wild The early 1960s saw more than commands. People are angry over B-run steelhead crossed that dam each 100,000 wild A-run and B-run steelhead DFO’s intransigence and the province’s year. Now 2018, 98% of the once enter the Snake River each year. By complicity. Canada has never been big famous Clearwater B-run steelhead the 1974-75 season that number had on the courtroom over the boardroom are gone. dropped to 12,200, with only 3,000 fish but this one deserves a different returning to Idaho rivers and streams. approach. In 1997, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife The other seemingly obvious conser - Now, in 2018, 98% Service listed all Snake River steel - vation measure is to get the First head as threatened with extinction Nation’s chum seeking nets out of the of the once famous under the Endangered Species Act. A- migration corridor when IFS are pre - run steelhead generally pass sent. What could be simpler? The large Clearwater River B- Bonneville Dam between July 1 and majority of those enhanced chums August 25. These are primarily one- originate from lower Fraser tribu - Run steelhead are gone year-in-ocean fish less than 78 cen - taries where they could be harvested timeters (about 31 inches) in length. B- without collateral damage. However, run steelhead pass Bonneville mostly that would require sharing agreements after August 25 and before November The destruction of this magnificent between First Nations that have a long 1. These fish typically spend two years steelhead run began officially on history of conflict over salmon and lit - in the ocean and are headed for Idaho’s March 14, 1947, as noted in the U.S. tle concern for steelhead. Clearwater and Salmon rivers. Army Corps of Engineers’ Special The 2018 IFS return will be the test. Fast-forward 20 years. In 2017 fish Report on Selection of Sites, Lower There can be no doubt the worst ever, managers predicted as few as 770 wild Snake River, Oregon, Washington and most black and white conservation cri - B-run steelhead would cross Lower Idaho. sis ever known among British Granite dam during the 2017-2018 sea - “The problem of passing migratory Columbia’s revered steelhead stocks son, later raising this figure to 1,100. fish over dams on lower Snake River will never reverse itself in the absence Pinning down accurate fish numbers is was discussed with representatives of of major changes in how all three gov - complicated. Not all B-run steelhead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ernments manage fisheries. All the are over 78 centimeters in length, State of Washington Department of platitudes about conservation, sustain - cross Bonneville between August 25 Fisheries, Fish Commission of Oregon, ability, the precautionary principle, and November 1, or spend two years in Oregon State Game Commission, and biodiversity, etc. will be tested as the ocean. Further, up to a third of the the State of Idaho Department of Fish never before. As go Thompson steel - B-run over Lower Granite Dam are and Game. The consensus of opinion of head, so go wild steelhead in the next bound for the Middle Fork and South these agencies was that any series of and the next and the next once great Fork of the Salmon River rather than dams on lower Snake River would be rivers. the Clearwater. Yet slice the figures hazardous and might entirely elimi - any way you wish, since the late 1950s nate the runs of migratory fish in that around 98% of the Clearwater River stream. [Emphasis added.] In view of Continued on next page THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 11

Continued from previous page of particular note in the report: first, and watch our once plentiful and thriv - the plan keeps the lower Snake River ing wild salmon and steelhead disap - wild B-run steelhead have disap - dams in place, and second, astonishing - pear. peared. ly, NOAA Fisheries acknowledges that By NOAA’s own admission, the feder - Citing present ocean conditions as a “the actions will not get us to recov - al government’s recovery plan for major contributor to the extremely low ery.” threatened Snake River steelhead is a 2017 Snake River steelhead returns, sham deserving of public outrage. The IDFG fish biologist Joe Dupont recent - special interest groups that support ly wrote: “If we had better spawning, Breaching the four the status quo on the lower Snake rearing and migratory conditions , it River —including government agen - would buffer the poor ocean conditions Snake River dams cies like the Corps of Engineers and to the point that we could still provide NOAA Fisheries — deserve the pub - harvest fisheries in Idaho, and wild offers the best lic’s disdain. Politicians who do the fish would not be threatened of going bidding of these organizations and who extinct.” [Emphasis added] This may chance of recovering willfully deceive the public with misin - be as bold a statement as an IDFG staff formation and false statements member dare make with its reference ESA listed fish regarding Snake River steelhead and to “migratory conditions.” In 1999 the salmon must be held accountable. Idaho legislature whisked manage - The public is thus now asked to invest Based on Jared Diamond’s award ment of ESA-listed fish species away more millions of dollars in a fish winning book Collapse , the only from IDFG with the creation of the recovery plan designed to fail while remaining hope for avoiding the Office of Species Conservation in the ignoring the one action fish scientists extinction of Snake River wild salmon Governor’s office. The State of Idaho, a have consistently identified as having and steelhead rests with an aggressive defendant in the current Bi-Op case before Judge Michael H. Simon, is aligned with the federal agencies and special interest groups trying to main - tain the status quo on the lower Snake River—fish be damned as well as dammed. In its 2002 Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Study, the Corps of Engineers identi - fied three action alternatives to address the issue of threatened and endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead: the maximum transport (barging) of juvenile fish around the dams, major dam passage system improvements, and dam breaching. The biological analysis concluded the third alternative, breaching, presented the highest probability of recovering endangered and threatened Snake River salmon and steelhead. The Corps and Bonneville Power Administration have since spent bil - lions of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars implementing the first two alterna - tives. These least-likely-to-succeed alternatives have failed. No Snake The four lower Snake River dams remain the primary impediment to restoring not River threatened or endangered fish only Clearwater River B-Run steelhead, but steelhead and Pacific salmon populations species is on its way to recovery. In throughout the upper Columbia River Basin. Photo by Jim Yuskavitch November 2017 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries released its new “Recovery Plan” for the greatest potential for successful mass movement of individuals who threatened Snake River steelhead. recovery: dam breaching. And all this refuse to see these iconic species dis - The plan includes an extensive list of while the four lower Snake River dams appear. Individual anger without col - actions continuing over the next 50 to continue to produce electricity we no lective action is a sure path to species 100 years and is projected to cost hun - longer need, while we subsidize the extinction. dreds of millions of dollars. Two points Snake River shipment of wheat to Asia, 12 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 Wild Winter Steelhead, Sea Lions and Crisis Management

By Conrad Gowell and Jennifer Fairbrother

— Native Fish Society —

Conrad Gowell is Fellowship Program Species Act-listed winter steelhead, tive impacts of mitigation hatcheries, Director and Jennifer Fairbrother is spring Chinook, lamprey, sturgeon, and recreational and commercial har - Campaign & Columbia Regional and other fishes native and non-native vest concerns. In response, several Director for the Native Fish Society. to the Willamette, sea lion predation is management plans have been put in The Native Fish Society uses the best impacting the already low populations place in the Willamette including the available science to advocate for the of wild fish in the basin. ODFW has Fisheries Evaluation and Management recovery of wild native fish and good declared that, because of the increased Plan (2001), the Willamette Biological stewardship of their habitats. Learn sea-lion population, wild winter steel - Opinion (2008), and the National more about the organization’s work at: head are on the verge of extinction in Marine Fisheries Services’ Recovery nativefishsociety.org the Willamette. But the Department’s Plan (2011). Because of recommenda - own analysis also shows one population tions made in these plans, direct har - ince the Oregon Department of wild Willamette River winter steel - vest has been reduced, incidental har - of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) head, the Calapooia, is destined for vest through commercial fisheries has released a press statement at extinction regardless of what is done decreased, and hatchery operations Willamette Falls in 2017, with sea lions. have been limited to non-native sum - there has been a sustained mer steelhead, resident rainbows, and pSublic outcry about the conflict spring Chinook production. between wild winter steelhead and sea Winter steelhead have But even as River Stewards through - lions. Dr. Shaun Clements, Senior out the basin carefully followed the Policy Analyst with ODFW, said in a been declining for the abysmal returns of wild winter steel - statement, “We know what the problem head over Willamette Falls early in the is and have seen this coming for about past 45 years, long 2016-2017 run year, no action was a decade, we just couldn’t take action taken by fisheries managers. This lack to prevent it.” Dr. Clements is refer - before the sea lions of action led NFS River Steward Dave ring to an effort by many groups to Carpenter to reach out to the gover - modify the Marine Mammal Protection showed up. nor's office, district fisheries biolo - Act (MMPA), which would allow the gists, Fish and Wildlife Department to lethally remove For Native Fish Society (NFS) River Commissioners, and state senators and California sea lions from the area sur - Stewards working on the recovery and representatives, urging them to rounding Willamette Falls. Federal leg - protection of these fish, ODFW’s state - address the multitude of threats facing islation has been introduced in both the ments and PVA only provide part of these fish. In many of the Willamette’s House and Senate (H.R. 2083 and S. the story. Winter steelhead have been tributaries, it is legal to fish for wild 1702, respectively) to modify the declining for at least four and a half winter steelhead during their spawn - MMPA for this purpose. While the act decades, falling from over 25,000 fish ing period, and the use of bait is does allow for the lethal removal of in 1971-1972 run year to just 822 in the allowed while juveniles are rearing in problem sea lions under crisis situa - 2016-2017 run year. Of those 822 fish, freshwater. Simple actions, like shut - tions, state agencies want more lati - only 512 were estimated to return to ting down the catch and release fishery tude to address predation problems the four core populations included in can take place on an emergency basis. throughout the Columbia. ODFW’s sci - the analysis. The shifting baseline of But there is a problem: no one has ence team released a Population wild steelhead decline in the determined an escapement number, or Viability Analysis (PVA) in 2017 Willamette began well before these the number of fish that need to return assessing the effect of sea lion associ - data were taken. It started with intense to the spawning grounds. This figure is ated mortality on wild winter steel - splash dam logging, gravel mining, and absolutely necessary to take in-season head at Willamette Falls. The report industrial development that has been action and sustain the population into indicates: “Sea lions have a large nega - occurring since the 1860s. Willamette the future. The research, monitoring, tive effect on the viability of winter winter steelhead and spring Chinook and evaluation has not been developed steelhead.” were listed as threatened species in to say if and when we need to adaptive - Sea lion presence at Willamette Falls 1999 due to the continued degradation ly reduce our various impacts to these has been increasing over the past of habitat below, and lack of passage fish. decade. As predators of Endangered over federally owned dams, the nega - Continued on next page THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 13 Continued from previous page also subjected to some of the worst In 2017, NFS River Steward Nick Winter steelhead have been declining ocean conditions since the late 1990s. Rowell provided anecdotal observa - for the past 45 years, long before sea Poor upwelling along the Northwest tions on the Clackamas River of sea lions showed up. While it is easy to Pacific Coast in the 2014-2016 years lions moving up into the river to prey articulate the effect of a single factor, likely led to very low juvenile survival on spawning winter steelhead. such as sea lion predation, the solution for Willamette steelhead. When winter It is no question that sea lions moving this far into freshwater, feeding at times on spawning fish, is having a negative effect. In Washington State, sea lions drove a population of steelhead that moved through the Ballard Locks in Seattle to near extirpation. Indicators within the larger ecosystem, however, point to a larger collapse of prey species, with lamprey, forage fish and other food sources for sea lions such as sardines, sand lance, anchovies, Table 1. Percentages of quasi-extinction over a 100 year period in four populations of and herring also struggling in the Willamette River winter steelhead under four different scenarios. Scenarios with sea lions poor ocean conditions. assume that the predation mortality estimated during that year will continue indefinitely. The So where do we draw the line in lowest predation rate was observed in 2015 and the highest predation rate was observed in our efforts to control predators? 2017. In one study, avian predators in to wild steelhead recovery is more elu - steelhead were foraging through the central California wiped out 100% of sive. During the in-season period of North Pacific, these fish encountered endangered steelhead and coho this year’s steelhead run, ODFW “the blob", a deadly patch of warm salmon. Do we also start selectively offered the following statement: “Part water that developed and persisted killing problem water oozles, blue of the reason for this year's decline during the summer of 2015 and into herons, hooded mergansers, kingfish - may be the horrific water conditions 2016, leading to poor survival of sub- ers, salmon sharks, and orca whales? that existed during outmigration for adult steelhead in the ocean. But those fish that successfully many steelhead smolts during the win - Once this cohort of fish returned to maneuver around the sea lions and ter and spring of 2015. As you recall freshwater they were caught in recre - anglers parked at the base of we endured one of the worst droughts ational and commercial gillnet fish - Willamette Falls still face numerous on record, exacerbated by a heat wave eries throughout the lower Columbia hurdles before they are able to spawn. that elevated stream temperatures River, not purposely, but as bycatch— Native fish often find that they can’t markedly in spring and early summer. the unintended consequence of trying reach their historical spawning habitat Sea lion predation could also be a fac - to keep fisheries open when small pop - due to incomplete or partial fish pas - tor, given the ever-growing numbers in ulations of ESA-listed fish are passing sage at dams. For example, the Minto both the Willamette and the Columbia through. The effect of this harvest is Fish Passage facility on the N. Fork rivers. They feed both on upstream assumed to be low, but poor data calls Santiam River, which was built by the migrating winter steelhead adults and into question whether or not this factor Army Corps of Engineers in 2013, has out-migrating juveniles below the is important. not been able to pass wild winter steel - falls, taking an estimated minimum of It’s at this point in their migration head or spring Chinook upstream into 15% of the Willamette bound adults in that adult wild winter steelhead would their historical habitat because their 2016. Understand that additional mor - be subjected to sea lion mortality. offspring will have no way to migrate tality is occurring in the river below With an increasing number of downstream through the reservoirs the falls as well.” California sea lions showing up in the after they hatch. The $27.4 million dol - Indeed, these fish did experience a Willamette River, scientists estimated lar facility opened in 2013, but plans to triple whammy of environmental con - that 25% of the steelhead that returned provide downstream passage at ditions which contributed to their poor to Willamette Falls in 2016 were con - Detroit reservoir have stalled and the survival. A drought in 2015 caused sumed by these marine mammals. If timeline remains uncertain to start many streams throughout the upper we extrapolate the 25% predation esti - construction on downstream passage. Willamette basin to dewater, including mate out to the 2017 return year and The earliest that juvenile wild steel - Courtney Creek, a high priority tribu - add that number back into the total head could naturally pass through tary in the Calapooia watershed. number of fish that returned, the Detroit Reservoir on their way to the Oregon has been found ill-equipped to counts of winter steelhead at ocean is now 2023, the deadline for solve water quantity challenges, and Willamette Falls would still be the low - providing full fish passage in the public and private efforts to address est on record. And the trend is not Willamette Biological Opinion. water quality concerns have stalled. improving. This year’s run of wild Another factor weighing on the pop - The juvenile steelhead that survived Willamette winter steelhead looks to ulation of winter steelhead is ODFW’s the poor freshwater conditions were be the second lowest on record. Continued on next page 14 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 Continued from previous page stocking of non-native hatchery summer steel - head and hatchery rain - bow trout. ODFW releas - es hundreds of thousands of these fish every year, which pose ecological and genetic risks to native winter steelhead. Hatchery summer steel - head smolts are planted at a much larger size than juvenile winter steelhead and often residualize, or stay in the river, instead of going to the ocean. These holdover summer steelhead then compete with native winter steel - head for food and other resources. Wild winter and hatchery summer steelhead can also spawn together, yielding unfit hybrids of the two dis - tinct life histories. Stocked rainbow trout, like sea lions, can also ing the Marine Mammal Protection Act Willamette’s wild fish crisis depends directly prey upon juvenile ESA-listed to save these fish. In March, NFS filed upon our collective voices creating the winter steelhead and spring Chinook. a lawsuit, in conjunction with our part - public will necessary to motivate state Last year, a lawsuit was filed by two ners at WildEarth Guardians and and federal resource managers to conservation groups, Willamette Northwest Environmental Defense implement meaningful solutions. Our Riverkeeper and The Conservation Center and represented by Advocates current crisis has drawn a diverse Angler, alleging that hatchery summer for the West, to address the failure by array of stakeholders to the table to run steelhead programs are putting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the form a coalition to help guide recovery ESA-listed wild winter steelhead in Corps) to implement the management efforts and engage the public in jeopardy. changes necessary to recover Upper addressing the many causes of wild While the effect of sea lion preda - Willamette River winter steelhead and fish decline. tion shown by ODFW researchers does spring Chinook. The Corps initiated The root threats to the survival of contribute to the probability of one or reconsultation under the Endangered threatened Willamette winter steel - more Willamette steelhead populations Species Act in April, the first step to head and spring Chinook are complex. going extinct over the next century, addressing significant factors such as While the effect of sea lion predation is other factors like those discussed fish passage at key dams. important, it isn’t the reason wild win - above were not analyzed to weigh their Native Fish Society River Stewards ter steelhead face extinction. Saving individual contribution to the prob - in the upper Willamette Basins have these fish, much less recovering them lems facing these fish. Pinniped preda - been calling on fisheries managers to to populations that can sustain fully tion may be a serious threat moving shut down harvest on these ESA-listed executable fisheries, will require forward, but it was not the sole factor fish, reform hatchery practices, resource managers to address the mul - responsible for the critically low run in restore access to historical habitat, tiplicity of factors impacting these 2017 and again this year. and invest in solutions to the immedi - populations. We must move forward In 2021, wild winter steelhead are ate and systemic problems of wild fish now on implementing solutions that likely to be uplisted from threatened to decline. Paramount to that goal is that don’t require congressional approval if endangered under the Endangered we establish an escapement, or thresh - we are to ensure the persistence of this Species Act. We take very seriously old for each population, at which we unique run of fish. Dr. Clements’ statement that, “We are limit the array of threats we have at a point where any more delays in the immediate control over. We can’t oper - Willamette may condemn this run to ate under crisis management to recov - extinction.” er any listed species. But it will take more than just amend - Ultimately, the solution to the THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 15 Mining Again Threatens Mount St. Helens Area Wild Fish and Habitat

By Matt Little — Cascade Forest Conservancy —

Matt Little is Executive Director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife desig - explored the Green River valley Cascade Forest Conservancy, an orga - nated it in 2014 as one of the state’s deposits (called Mount Margaret) had nization that is dedicated to protecting first “Wild Stock Gene Banks”, to pro - failed. The gold rush had ended. forests, streams, wildlife and commu - tect the integrity of the genetic stock. The latest search for industrial-scale nities in the Cascade Mountains. Learn The Lower Columbia Fish Recovery gold and copper started in 1969 when more about their work at: Board also identified the Green and Duval Corporation acquired the Mount cascadeforest.org North Fork Toutle Rivers as “Primary” Margaret mining rights and drilled 150 waters — their highest designation — core samples in the 1970s. Following ust north of Mount St. Helens for the recovery of fall Chinook and the eruption of Mount St. Helens in lies the beautiful and pristine coho salmon, and winter steelhead, in 1980, Duval sold their claims to the Green River valley, which is a the lower Columbia River Basin. The Trust for Public Land. For over a treasured wild steelhead clean water and habitat values of the decade, there was little interest in min - refuge and a destination for Green River, and proximity to the ing in the Green River valley until bJackcountry recreationists. It is also scenic Mount St. Helens National 1993, when Vanderbilt Gold Corp. the site of a proposed gold and copper Volcanic Monument, also led the US applied for a mining permit in the mine, and a battle that has been raging Forest Service to determine that the area. The Bureau of Land Management for over a decade. Green River is eligible for Wild and (BLM) concluded that mineral concen - The headwaters of the Green River Scenic River designation. trations in the area were too low to be lie in a steep and verdant valley in the The valley is a treasure trove for profitable and denied the permit. remote northeastern portion of the other backcountry pursuits as well. It In 2004, Idaho General Mines, Inc. Mount St. Helens National Volcanic is a valuable wildlife corridor for the (later known as General Moly Inc.) Monument and contain one of the seasonal migration of a large elk herd, acquired a 50% interest in the Mount world’s unique ecosystems. Following long recognized by the state wildlife Margaret deposit and applied for a Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption, this agency for its habitat values. It also hardrock mining lease. The local con - valley had areas that were scorched by contains the Norway Pass special per - servation group, Cascade Forest the blast and other areas that were mit area for elk, highly coveted by Conservancy (CFC), then called the sheltered and where old growth hunters. Outdoor enthusiasts often Gifford Pinchot Task Force, responded forests survived the volcanic start their adventures at the Green by rallying support from the communi - catalysm. This resulting mix of native River Horse Camp to hike, bike, or ty. The cities of Longview, Kelso, and flora and fauna at various levels of ride horses along the 22-mile Goat Castle Rock, which depended on the succession created a mosaic of diversi - Mountain and Green River loop trails Green and Toutle Rivers for their ty that today supports a diversity of through blast zone and old growth drinking water supplies, all passed species from wildflowers to herds of forests, and past beautiful alpine lakes resolutions against the mine proposal. elk, and enjoyed by recreationists and mountain views. During the public comment period for from bird-watchers to anglers. Enter Ascot Resources Ltd. This the mining permit’s Environmental The Green River flows in and out of Canadian-based mining company has Assessment, over 33,000 people the Monument’s borders, snaking its plans to explore for an industrial-scale expressed their concerns about the way west through the glacial-carved mine in this valley. However, they are proposal. In 2008, the BLM denied the landscape of Green River valley. not the first prospectors to the area. In lease. Further downstream, it flows into the 1891, two German immigrant farmers In March of 2010, the Canadian-based famous Toutle/Cowlitz River system. were on a fishing and hunting expedi - mining company, Ascot Resources From the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery and tion and found evidence of precious Ltd., purchased the mining rights from North Toutle Hatchery down to the metals. This set off a mining rush in General Moly Inc. In a very short time, Columbia River, this popular stretch the area and led to the establishment and without an environmental assess - provides anglers with abundant oppor - of the Green River mining district in ment, the Forest Service approved tunities to catch salmon and steelhead. 1892 (later named the St. Helens min - Ascot’s drilling plan. By August the What many anglers don’t know, howev - ing district) to manage the numerous company had drills in the ground tak - er, is that above this system flow claims. However, these mining ven - ing core samples. CFC requested an waters so clean, clear, and productive tures proved to be unprofitable, and by injunction and stopped the drilling by for wild steelhead that the Washington 1926, the three companies that had the summer of 2011. Ascot Resources Continued on next page 16 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 Continued from previous page groundwater and surface waters. The exploratory drilling were once owned closest drilling sites are just 150 feet by the conservation-focused Trust for quickly submitted a new permit in late from Green River tributaries and oth - Public Land (TPL), who had purchased 2011, which this time the Forest ers are approximately 400 feet from it from Duval. In 1986, following the Service and BLM approved. However, the Green River itself. Also, trees will creation of the Mount St. Helens CFC prevailed in 2014 when a federal be removed and formerly closed roads National Volcanic Monument, TPL court invalidated the permits and the will be reconstructed, which will fur - donated and sold their land and the parties withdrew their appeals. ther impact the streams and fish. mining rights to the Forest Service. Not to be discouraged, Ascot started Drilling, truck traffic, and other During the land transfer, TPL wrote writing another application in 2015. In activities will create 24/7 noise that they expected that the mineral January of this year, the Forest throughout the summer into mid-fall, rights “would be removed from entry Service yet again approved the permit the same time of year that people visit under the General Mining Laws.” and passed it along to BLM for their this area for backcountry recreation Fortunately, some of these lands were review and concurrence. It is likely the and solitude. Bow season for elk and also purchased using money from the agency will concur with the decision deer begins in September and the pro - Land and Water Conservation Fund very soon, making it final. posed mining site is where most back - (LWCF). An industrial-sized mine in the Green country trips begin, since it is the end The Land and Water Conservation River valley would be catastrophic for of the road and it is where the horse Fund Act was established by Congress fish, wildlife, and recreation. These camp and trails begin. The fishing in 1964 to use money generated from types of mines often require huge open experience would certainly be disrupt - off shore oil and gas leases to acquire pits to process the amount of rock and ed, as well as the direct impacts to lands for conservation and recreation minerals necessary to be profitable. other fish and wildlife from the project purposes. Since its inception, LWCF They also require massive contain - itself. has protected over five million acres ment ponds held back by earthen dams A large coalition of recreation and of conservation and recreation lands to hold the toxic materials and heavy conservation groups have partnered across the country. A mine established metals left in the tailings sludge after with the Cascade Forest Conservancy on these lands would be devastating mining, including copper, lead, to oppose this mine. The Clark not only to the Green River valley, but cyanide, cadmium, mercury, and Skamania Flyfishers (CSF), estab - for public lands everywhere. arsenic. These “ponds”, are notorious lished in 1975, is one of the most vocal So what’s next? The Cascade Forest for leaking or failing over time. If one opponents of the mine because of Conservancy and its coalition partners of these is built in the steep Green potential impacts to the local fishery. will continue to fight drilling in the River valley, which is in a seismically In a powerful video about the mine on Green River valley, including through active area in the shadow of an active Cascade Forest Conservancy’s web - more litigation if necessary. The coali - volcano, the earthen dams are almost site, CSF’s Steve Jones is documented tion hopes for a permanent end to min - guaranteed to fail. In 2014 a tailings fly fishing the Green River and talking ing in this valley and is asking our dam at British Columbia’s Mount about the inevitable impacts that min - leaders in Congress to lead a solution Polley Mine failed, destroying whole ing will have on the 14-16 pound steel - that will preserve the area’s exception - salmon rivers with toxic sludge. head he loves. Others opposed to the al fish populations, wildlife habitat, Nobody wants this to happen to the mine include the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, and backcountry recreation opportuni - Green River. the original owners and managers of ties. The Land and Water Conservation A leak containing even the smallest this land, and even the Portland-based Fund has strong bipartisan support, amount of dissolved copper can dis - rock band Modest Mouse, who current - and any solution should also preserve rupt a salmonid’s olfactory senses, and ly has an ad out against the mine on the integrity of this law and the public at 2.3–3.0 mg/L it can be lethal. Heavy their main webpage. lands it has protected. metals not only impact fish, but they All these calls to action have been The Green River valley is unique, and build up in the living tissue of organ - heard by decision makers, including the fish, wildlife, and communities that isms as they travel up the food chain leaders in Congress. Washington’s depend on it for their livelihoods and affect just about every living crea - Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell is deserve our long-term support and ture in the ecosystem, including an important ally for mine opponents, protection. To learn more about this humans. Mercury is notorious for this especially through her role as Ranking proposal and see a video of this beauti - and is a potent neurotoxin, greatly Member on the Senate Energy and ful landscape, go to: affecting the nervous system. Natural Resources Committee. In a cascadeforest.org/our-work/mining/ Exploratory drilling alone can have 2016 Committee hearing on the Forest Also, please consider joining the significant impacts to fish and recre - Service budget, Senator Cantwell Cascade Forest Conservancy as we ation along the Green River. Ascot grilled the former Chief of the Forest work toward the long-term preserva - Resources has plans to perform test Service, Thomas Tidwell, on his tion of this treasured watershed. drilling at 23 drill pads that will create agency’s insufficient review of this 63 boreholes. The drills use chemical mine and the impacts it will have on additives during the drilling process the valley. and a bentonite-based grout after - Ironically, all of the 900 acres cur - wards that can have impacts to rently under consideration for THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 17 Piscine Reovirus Documented in Escaped Puget Sound Farmed Atlantic Salmon

By Patrick Myers — Wild Fish Conservancy —

Author Patrick Myers is Director of Iceland, has the industry been allowed We have deep concerns, however, over Development and Outreach for the to import PRV-infected eggs and con - the agency’s chosen means for testing Wild Fish Conservancy, which works to sequently plant infected fish into for this virus. We understand that conserve wild fish through science, Washington’s public waters? WDFW has dictated that a private vet - education and advocacy. Learn more As a consequence of these test erinary consulting group will be con - about their work at: results, Wild Fish Conservancy drafted ducting viral sampling and testing for wildfishconservancy.org and sent a letter to Dr. Kenneth PRV, and that this chosen group is cur - Warheit, supervisor of the fish-health rently a consultant for, and has pub - n March 22, 2018, and genetics lab at the Washington licly testified on behalf of, the Atlantic Governor Jay Inslee Department of Fish and Wildlife, salmon aquaculture industry in signed into law landmark requesting the department to test for Washington state. Due to the potential legislation representing PRV in Atlantic salmon juveniles consequences of PRV testing in the world’s largest ever ready to be transferred into open Atlantic salmon hatcheries and open- lOegislative removal of Atlantic salmon water net pens and in all currently water net pens, we are concerned that net pens. This historic action was not any private entity, even an entity that only a major environmental victory for had not previously exhibited a Washington state, but it set a prece - Has the salmon predilection for the aquaculture indus - dent for our colleagues around the try, could fall under the influence of globe fighting the very same battle farming industry been outside interests, and could experience their own public waters. difficulty in testing for PRV in an Yet as we continue to celebrate and allowed to import impartial manner. countdown to 2022, when Cooke To bring this issue to the agency’s Aquaculture’s final leases expire, we PRV-infected eggs and attention, Wild Fish Conservancy have discovered a new and serious drafted, and is gathering signatures threat to our wild salmon posed by this then plant infected fish on, a letter of petition requesting industry that cannot be ignored for WDFW to conduct PRV testing inter - another four years. into Washington’s nally. It is WFC’s belief that state con - Back in February, Wild Fish ducted viral testing is the only way to Conservancy sent tissues samples public waters? assure the public that PRV test results taken from 19 Atlantic salmon that had will be free from bias. escaped from a net pen near Cypress operating Atlantic salmon net pens in Wild Fish Conservancy will be circu - Island to an independent lab to be test - Washington state. lating the petition via the Our Sound, ed for Piscine Reovirus (PRV), a virus WDFW responded swiftly to our con - Our Salmon campaign, a coalition of that may spread to and harm wild fish. cern, and agreed to test both Atlantic 100+ businesses and organizations as The lab results showed that every sin - salmon hatcheries and Atlantic salmon well as nearly 12,000 individuals who gle one of the 19 fish tested positive net pens in Washington for PRV, and worked over the past year to bring for the virus. Even more shocking further agreed to halt the transfer of about a legislative phase out of were the results of the genetic Atlantic salmon juveniles and remove Atlantic salmon net pens in sequencing, which revealed the origin infected fish from open-water net pens Washington state. of the virus to be sub-genotype 1a, or if the PRV virus was found. of Norwegian origin, and clustered We applaud WDFW’s decision to test tightly with a PRV-isolate from Atlantic salmon for PRV, and we share Dear WDFW Acting Director Joe Iceland. the agency’s opinion that Atlantic Stohl, This is the first time the Icelandic salmon infected with PRV should not PRV-isolate has been found in Pacific be grown for harvest in Washington’s We, as members of a coalition of busi - waters, and the finding raises a critical waters. We believe WDFW’s decision nesses, organizations, commercial and question — if the eggs used in Cooke to exclude PRV-infected fish from pub - recreational fishermen, and individu - Aquaculture’s Atlantic salmon hatch - lic waters is well in line with a precau - als under the name of Our Sound, Our ery in Rochester, Washington come tionary approach, an approach that is Salmon, write to respectfully urge the from Norwegian-born fish raised in necessary when considering the needs of wild Pacific salmon and steelhead. Continued on next page 18 MAY 2018 THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90

Continued from previous page Atlantic salmon hatcheries and open- water net pens, we are concerned that THE OSPREY OFFERS Washington Department of Fish and any private entity, even an entity that ELECTRONIC MAILING Wildlife (WDFW) to reconsider the had not previously exhibited a means by which farmed Atlantic predilection for the aquaculture indus - AND ACCEPTS ONLINE salmon and ready-to-transport try, could fall under the influence of DONATIONS Atlantic salmon smolts in Washington outside interests, and could experience Subscribers may now, at their state hatcheries are to be tested for difficulty in testing for PRV in an option, receive The Osprey as a Piscine Reovirus (PRV). impartial manner. PDF file attached to an e-mail. In the aftermath of the Cypress As is stated in WDFW’s own inves - The Osprey staff wants to empha - Island escape last August, PRV was tigative report into 2017’s Cypress size that this is subscribers’ choice found in every fish that was tested for Island Atlantic salmon escape, the based on how you prefer to receive the virus. Even more shocking were the Atlantic salmon net pen industry in mailings and what fits your results of the genetic sequencing, Washington state has misled the public lifestyle. Some prefer the speed which revealed the origin of the virus on a number of occasions in the past and ease of forwarding, copying, to be sub-genotype 1a, or of Norwegian year. As a result, public confidence in and manipulating that electronic origin, and clustered tightly with a the industry’s willingness to act can - documents provide. For others, PRV-isolate from Iceland. didly and in the best interests of Puget there is no substitute for a printed This is the first time the Icelandic Sound has eroded. document that can be read any - PRV-isolate has been found in Pacific A fundamental principle of good where. To open PDF files, e-mail waters, but it raises a critical question resource management is to assure subscribers will require the Adobe — if the eggs used in Cooke the public that the outcome of conse - Acrobat Reader, which can be Aquaculture’s Atlantic salmon hatch - quential testing is the result of rigor - downloaded free of charge at: ery in Rochester, WA come from ous science conducted by indepen - www.adobe.com/products/reader/ Norwegian-born fish raised in Iceland, dent investigators free from any rea - If you are an existing subscriber has the industry been allowed to sonable perception of bias and/or who would like to switch to e-mail import PRV-infected eggs and conse - conflict of interest. Following this delivery or a new subscriber for quently plant infected fish into principle, the signees of this letter either printed or e-mail delivery, Washington’s public waters? urge WDFW to conduct PRV testing please complete the redesigned Recent scientific evidence has shown internally, using appropriately quali - coupon on Page 19 and send it to the that PRV is amplified by net pens in fied staff. Fly Fishers International with your the marine environment, and that the As an agency, WDFW owns both the contribution to support The Osprey virus can spread to and potentially scientific means and legal authority to and the cause of recovering wild harm wild fish. Considering this con - sample and test for PRV in operating steelhead and salmon. cerning possibility, we applaud net pens and hatcheries, and we, as a You also have the option of mak - WDFW’s decision to test Atlantic coalition, would have far more confi - ing a secure credit card donation to salmon for PRV, both in open-water net dence in test results from a governmen - support The Osprey and wild steel - pens and at any Atlantic salmon hatch - tal agency than in results coming from head and salmon by going to this ery intending to transfer fish into pub - the industry’s consultant. link: lic waters, and we share the agency’s We urge WDFW to make the results of http://www.flyfishersinternation - opinion that Atlantic salmon infected those tests available to the public as al.org/Conservation/TheOspreyNe with PRV should not be grown for har - soon as is feasible, and we stress that wsletter/tabid/225/Default.aspx vest in Washington’s waters. We an impartial testing process is essen - By either means, the steelhead believe WDFW’s decision to exclude tial to assure the public that the and salmon will thank you for sup - PRV-infected fish from public waters is Atlantic salmon net pen industry is not porting The Osprey . well in line with a precautionary causing additional harm to our marine approach, an approach that is neces - environment and our cherished marine sary when considering the needs of species. wild Pacific salmon and steelhead. Thank you for taking our concerns We have deep concerns, however, into consideration. over the agency’s chosen means for testing for this virus. We understand More information on PRV isn Puget that WDFW has dictated that a private Sound can be found at: veterinary consulting group will be conducting viral sampling and testing https://www.oursound- for PRV, and that this chosen group is oursalmon.org/prv-1/ currently a consultant for, and has pub - licly testified on behalf of, the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry in Washington state. Due to the potential consequences of PRV testing in THE OSPREY • ISSUE NO. 90 MAY 2018 19

Guest Column Chinook in the entire basin. Restoring Continued from page 3 the lower Snake River by removing its four deadbeat dams is no silver bullet take to protect and begin to recover for orca survival, but according to this population on the brink of extinc - experts, it is very difficult to see how tion. we protect them from extinction with While three causes of decline are these dams in place. generally accepted, insufficient prey The plight of the Southern Resident numbers is the top priority. Without orcas is a poignant reminder of the role more fish in the very near-term these of Northwest salmon as a connector of orca don’t stand a chance. Further, the people, of place and of ecosystem. other two issues to address, toxins and Their precarious status today brings vessel noise, are made much worse by new urgency and argument for mean - the shortage of prey. Lack of food, for ingful action and much-needed leader - example, leads to burning blubber ship. Already high stakes have gotten stores where toxins concentrate. higher for the Northwest and the Burning fat mobilizes these toxins and nation; it remains to be seen if the citi - heightens their harms to orca repro - zens and leaders of our region will step duction and immune systems and ulti - up to the challenge. mately can lead to death. The plight of orca and central need Orca. Photo courtesy Robert Pitman, for significant increases in salmon NOAA abundance regionally has recently per - meated into many natural resource venues and vehicles. Advocates have To receive The Osprey, please return this coupon with your included endangered orca among the check made out to The Osprey - Fly Fishers International claims of Columbia-Snake River Basin biological opinion litigation for the last ten years. Orca figures prominently in discussions in NOAA’s Columbia Basin Partnership — a new regional forum of THE OSPREY NAME stakeholders working together to iden - tify recovery levels for salmon and steelhead. Ben Enticknap, senior scien - ADDRESS tist with Oceana, recently delivered a presentation about orca at the 2018 Lake Roosevelt Forum in Spokane, CITY/STATE/ZIP Washington. Federal agencies (BPA and Army Corps) assure us that the court-ordered environmental review of PHONE salmon recovery alternatives for the Columbia Basin will include a full and E-Mail fair analysis of impacts and opportuni - I Am a New Subscriber q q ties for the Southern Residents. Send My Copies By E-Mail (PDF Electronic Version) q Across all these forums, orca advo - I Am An Existing Subscriber Send My Copies by Standard Mail (Hardcopy) q cates have joined forces with salmon Yes, I will help protect wild steelhead If you are a new subscriber, how did you hear about advocates to press urgently for the ❏ $15 Basic Subscription The Osprey? removal of the four lower Snake River ❏ $25 Dedicated Angler Level ❏ Friend or fellow angler dams. Not only is it one of the single ❏ ❏ most beneficial actions that we can $50 For Future Generations of Anglers Fishing show take to protect and restore endangered ❏ $100 If I Put Off Donating, My Fish ❏ Fly shop, lodge or guide salmon (NOAA’s own finding in 2002), Might Not Return Home ❏ Another publication.Which? it will also restore significant popula - ❏ $ Other, Because ❏ Club or conservation group meeting tions of the large, fatty spring Chinook ❏ Other we now know Southern Residents tar - get in winter and early spring at the I am a . . . The Osprey — Steelhead Committee mouth of the Columbia River. The ❏ Citizen Conservationist Snake River and its tributaries are Fly Fishers International ❏ highly productive habitat for Commercial Outfitter/Guide 5237 US Hwy 89 South, Suite 11 springers; historically this drainage ❏ Professional Natural Resources Mgr. Livingston, MT 59047-9176 produced nearly half of the spring ❏ Other Thanks For Your Support Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid PAID THE OSPREY Bozeman, MT Permit No. 99

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