NWF.007/Apr.19.96
LATE BREAKING UPDATESCIENTIFIC REVIEW GROUP SAYS SALMON COULD BE GONE BY THE 21ST CENTURY :: In a report that could rock the foundations of salmon recovery, the Independent Scientific Review Group has warned the Northwest Power Planning Council that without dramatic changes in Columbia River operations, salmon will be extinct by the next century. The group's "new vision" of the Columbia system includes such potentially controversial recommendations as drawdowns and new flow regimes, all to restore and enhance habitat and promote genetic diversity. The key to saving salmon, said the report, lies in habitat restoration, a strategy that demands returning the river to a more normative state. "The history of salmon restoration is rooted in technology, such as by-pass facilities and hatcheries. [We recommend] keeping the salmon in their habitat and letting the river do the work," said ISG member and Montana fisheries professor Jack Stanford.
While the group was short on specifics, drawdowns were touted as one way to restore a more river-like habitat. Drawdowns expose shoreline, allowing the river to redistribute gravel and nutrients, and eventually restore habitat that salmon need for feeding, resting and spawning. Equally important, the group said, are changes in reservoir releases, replacing the frequent peaks and valleys caused by power operations with flooding that resembles the spring freshet. Dramatic change in water levels raises havoc with shallow water habitat, where juvenile salmon food is produced. The more natural flooding, known as scouring, moves gravel around and reworks river channels, restoring habitat complexity.
The more natural river system helps promote genetic diversity, another key to salmon survival, according to the panel. Habitat destruction has isolated many stocks, leaving them more vulnerable to environmental or other problems. "We need population diversity to cope with habitat change such as a poor ocean environment," said Stanford. The strategy also makes techniques such as transportation and hatcheries "irrelevant." Both came in for sharp criticism because both reduce genetic diversity by selecting for the average. The panel will not release the final report until July [Lynn Francisco/Bill Bakke].
Fish News[1] SPILL BOOSTS GAS LEVELS AT COLUMBIA AND SNAKE DAMS; BONNEVILLE GIVES AWAY POWER TO REDUCE SPILL :: Bonneville was forced to give away as much as 800 MW of energy each of the last two weekends, to reduce spill and cut nitrogen supersaturation levels at several Columbia and Snake hydro projects. Recipients of the power agreed to spill at their projects so the federal projects could generate energy and curtail spill. In addition, BPA was selling energy for as little as 3 mills, just to keep the turbines running. Flows continued to soar, sending gas levels as high as 140 percent at John Day during the fourth week of April.
High flows combined with turbine outages have boosted nitrogen gas levels at several Columbia and Snake river hydro projects during the month. Levels rose as high as 130 percent saturation at Lower Granite in mid-April, 10 percent above what state environmental officials call safe for fish. Monitoring for the potentially lethal gas bubble disease found more than 30 percent of the fish at Little Goose showed signs of GBD during that time, according to reports from the Technical Management Team. Visual inspections of fish at Little Goose showed that as many as 70 percent of juvenile salmon had signs of GBD, with 7 percent showing what monitors called severe signs.
Gas levels at the project soared when the Army Corps of Engineers shut down all but two of the turbines at Lower Granite--the next upstream dam--due to installation of a prototype surface collector. The collector was scheduled to be in place by April 1, but construction problems put the project weeks behind schedule and forced the turbine outages. The Corps had the surface collector in place at Granite by April 23, fired up all the turbines and was able to reduce spill. In addition, the Corps continues work on one downed turbine at Ice Harbor.
The return of the turbines and other actions to reduce spill apparently helped cut the numbers of fish suffering from gas bubble disease. Reports from the Fish Passage Center showed between 10 percent and 15 percent of the fish sampled had signs of the disease during the fourth week of April, compared to a high of 70 percent the previous week. The National Marine Fisheries Service called for spilling water and fish this year to keep smolts away from turbines, but the recent spill was too much of a good thing. Officials usually turn to barges when the river becomes too dangerous for fish, but that option was curtailed. Devices to collect the fish for barging don't work when high volumes of water are being spilled, said the Corps' Adele Merchant. "We just hope we have a little cooperation from Mother Nature and flows stay down a bit," she said [Lynn Francisco].
[2] OREGON EQC APPROVES SPILL WAIVERS :: The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission has approved water quality waivers that let the federal government spill water and fish over Columbia River dams. In a unanimous vote on April 12, the commission sanctioned total dissolved gas levels of 115 percent in the forebays and 120 percent in the tailraces of the federal hydro projects. The commission ruling allows gas levels to reach 125 percent, but only for a maximum of two hours per day. Washington state's Department of Ecology approved similar waivers earlier this year.
The waivers from Oregon and Washington allow the National Marine Fisheries Service to implement a key portion of its fish preservation policy. The strategy calls for keeping more fish in the river, rather than transporting them in barges. NMFS argues that spilling fish keeps them away from turbines, increasing smolt survival. However, spilling creates high levels of nitrogen gas, which can cause the lethal gas bubble disease in migrating smolts and returning adults.
Following an EQC staff report on the most recent GBD research, the Oregon commission set several conditions on the waiver. The spill program must stop if monitors show that 15 percent of the fish examined have signs of gas bubble trauma. In addition, NMFS must notify Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality within 24 hours of any violations of the conditions of the variance. The EQC also required NMFS to involve the Independent Scientific Advisory Board in the monitoring program and in future spill programs. And it wants a full report on the program--peer reviewed--by next December.
While NMFS applauded the commission ruling, the current high runoff and turbine outages in the Columbia system make voluntary spill unnecessary. (See story No. 1) Instead, hydro operators are desperately trying to manage the high involuntary spill to prevent damage to fish from high nitrogen levels [Lynn Francisco].
[3] GAS BUBBLE DISEASE PANEL SAYS CONTINUE MONITORING, BUT TEST ASSUMPTIONS :: The panel of scientists appointed to review and analyze monitoring for the potentially lethal gas bubble disease in migrating salmon released a final report that says current monitoring programs may not be protecting the fish. The National Marine Fisheries Service called for the review after concerns were raised over monitoring efforts carried out during last year's spill program. In spite of its tepid support for monitoring efforts, the panel says the program should continue, although it calls for research to test the critical assumptions and for an expanded program of in-river sampling for signs of bubbles in fish [Lynn Francisco].
[4] PFMC SETS 1996 SALMON SEASONS :: In a decision reached April 12, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council agreed to an exploitation rate of 12.5 percent on wild coho salmon south of Cape Falcon. No coho would be retained; this exploitation rate is the mortality expected for coho as an incidental catch while allowing access to chinook salmon for harvest. This exploitation rate is similar to 1995, but even though this mortality is low, it still left at least 35 major coho streams without enough spawners for replacement. That means the coho salmon runs in those rivers continued to decline in 1995. It is estimated that only 63,000 wild coho salmon bound for Oregon streams are in the ocean. Since the spawner escapement goal is 200,000, wild coho escapement requirements will not be met in 1996. The National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed listing these coho as a threatened species. Meanwhile, Oregon's Governor John Kitzhaber has initiated a coho salmon recovery plan in an effort to convince NMFS the listing is unnecessary. The deadline for completion of the state plan is October, 1996.
The PFMC failed to set a season for Washington coho and chinook fisheries until it is determined what Canada will do in terms of its harvest of these fish as they pass through Canadian waters. The U.S./Canada Salmon Treaty is a controlling factor on this fishery. Since there is no agreement between the two nations on salmon harvest sharing, the Washington fishery is uncertain at this time. The endangered run of Snake River fall chinook, will get some protection from the fact that Washington will not have an ocean salmon fishery in 1996. However, a sports chinook fishery will be allowed off the Oregon coast, although fishermen will have to share only 4,800 fish. Commercial trollers will also have a fishery off Oregon, with a limit of 117,000 fish [Bill Bakke].
[5] NINTH CIRCUIT RULING MAY FORCE ESA PROTECTION FOR BULL TROUT :: A recent ruling from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals may force the federal government to add bull trout to the endangered species list. The ruling overturned a federal court decision that threw out a lawsuit challenging the government's failure to list the fish. The appeals court cited the "indisputable impact" on fish and wildlife habitat when it ordered the case back to the district court. "Resolution of the status of the bull trout has a potentially enormous impact on a variety of projects and activities throughout the Northwest United States, as well as an indisputable impact on the ecosystems and habitats in which the bull trout can be found," said the early April ruling. Listing the fish could force restrictions in a number of commercial activities, including mining, logging and livestock grazing.
The suit was brought by environmental groups who challenged the US Fish and Wildlife Service's "warranted, but precluded" status for bull trout, an edict that admitted the fish were in peril but said other species deserved attention first. Since the suit was filed, Idaho and Montana have been working on recovery plans for bull trout. But Mike Bader, with the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, claimed that state efforts to restore bull trout have been "token in nature and wholly inadequate. What bull trout truly need is a recovery plan with teeth and ecosystem-wide protection throughout its habitat in the Northwest United States."
Regardless of the final outcome of the suit, however, the fate of bull trout may be on hold. In January, Congress cut all funds for adding new species to the endangered species list [Lynn Francisco].
[6] TESTS BEGIN MONDAY OF EXPANDED SURFACE COLLECTION SYSTEM AT ROCKY REACH DAM :: Chelan Public Utility District will fire up an expanded surface collection system at Rocky Reach Dam on April 22, marking the second year that the PUD will be using the surface collection approach to move young fish around the dam.
For about ten years, the PUD tested various screening systems to keep juvenile salmon from swimming into the turbine intakes at Rocky Reach, but none of them produced satisfactory results. Last year, the PUD tested a $3.6 million prototype system that used natural and turbine-induced surface currents in the upper sixty feet of the flow to attract fish into the bypass system. More than one million salmon swam through the surface collection system last year, the PUD reported.
Those promising results led Chelan to spend $1.5 million on expanding the system for this year's fish migration season. The PUD extended the collection system floor 150 feet farther upstream and added a sloping wall, designed to encourage the young fish to stay in the upper portion of the water column. The system (shown in color) will now divert fish from the first four of the dam's 11 units, according to PUD general manager Sonny Smart, who said about 40 percent of migrating salmon go through the first few units.
Chelan is also testing a new turbine runner, designed to be more fish friendly, on generating unit 6. In addition, the utility made some modifications at Rock Island dam. While testing of turbine intake screens has been postponed--high intake velocities were reportedly trapping some juvenile fish against the screens and injuring them--six spillway gates have been notched at the top to allow shallow surface spills of up to 1800 cfs throughout the spring and summer migration season. The PUD will use hydroacoustic monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of the shallow spills in moving fish past the dam [Jude Noland] (click small pictures for 120K views).
[7] NMFS RELEASES RESPONSE TO CRAMER REPORT :: The National Marine Fisheries Service is disputing claims made by a private consultant that high nitrogen gas in the Columbia and Snake rivers was the sole cause for decreased survival of migrating smolts last year. In its response to the report by Steven P. Cramer & Associates, NMFS claims that other factors--including high water temperatures and slower migrating times--also reduced smolt survival. In a memo to NMFS regional director Will Stelle, Michael Schiewe, Director of the Coastal Zone and Estuarine Studies Division, agreed that survival decreased as gas levels rose, but he added, "Statistically, it is not possible to determine which of the several correlated influences had the greatest effect on survival probabilities." A NWFSC report prepared by Steven G. Smith describes the agency's analysis of the Cramer report. NMFS' conclusions are outlined in a letter from Schiewe to Cramer, who performed his study under a contract with the Direct Service Industries, Inc [Lynn Francisco].
[8] AMERICAN RIVERS LISTS COLUMBIA/SNAKE SYSTEM, JOHN DAY, SKOKOMISH AS ENDANGERED :: For the fourth year in a row, American Rivers has put the Columbia/Snake River system on its list of the nation's ten most endangered rivers. Other Northwest rivers joining the Columbia on the environmental group's at-risk waterways include Columbia tributaries John Day and White Salmon, and Western Washington's Skokomish. In a press release, American Rivers Northwest office co-director Lorraine Bodi targeted "reckless development practices--dams that block fish passage, irrigation practices that waste water, and careless grazing and logging along river banks" for criticism. Reacting to the listing, the business/industry group Columbia River Alliance called the action "an empty public relations gesture...[that] provides nothing to advance salmon recovery." In its press release, the CRA criticized American Rivers for supporting gill net fishing in the Columbia, "a practice renowned for taking endangered salmon and its waste of other aquatic species."
But the river protection group's action gained praise from the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which sent out a press release detailing its fight to change logging practices on the Skokomish River and to force Tacoma City Light to restore flows lost to the Cushman hydroelectric project. Skokomish tribal chairman Gordon James called Cushman an illegal project [that] "has monopolized the North Fork Skokomish River, effectively drying it up and destroying one of our state's most productive salmon rivers" [Lynn Francisco].
[9] FEDERAL JUDGE DISMISSES NEZ PERCE CLAIMS AGAINST WWP :: US District Court Judge Lynn Winmill has dismissed a lawsuit that charged Washington Water Power with destroying access to the Nez Perce Indian Tribe's traditional fishing grounds by constructing the Hells Canyon hydro complex. In a March 28 ruling, Winmill accepted a US Magistrate's recommendation to dismiss the suit. The judge quoted from an 1855 treaty, noting that it "did not guarantee a certain quantity of fish, but only reserved the tribe's right to take fish at their usual and accustomed places."
A similar suit against Idaho Power was also dismissed by US District Judge Harold Ryan, but the tribe appealed to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Following the appeal, Idaho Power negotiated an out-of-court settlement with the tribe, agreeing to pay $16.5 million to mitigate damages to the fisheries. Tribal attorneys were not available to comment on whether the tribe will appeal the Winmill ruling [Lynn Francisco].
Document AnnexDOCUMENTS FROM NW FISHLETTER 007 :: Below are listed available documents referred to in the text of NW Fishletter issue 007.
THE ARCHIVE :: Previous NW Fishletter issues and supporting documents.
NW Fishletter is produced by Energy NewsData with grants from the Montana and Idaho offices of the Northwest Power Planning Council, the Bonneville Power Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service, Chelan County PUD, Douglas County PUD, Grant County PUD
and Direct Services Industries, Inc.
Publisher: Cyrus Noë, Editor: Lynn Francisco,
Web Editor: Whitney Dickinson,
Contributing Editors: Bill Bakke and Jude Noland.
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