Results from a Canadian researcher who claimed to have found traces of the ISA virus in wild salmon nearly 10 years ago have finally seen the light of day. Molly Kibenge's draft report was leaked to anti-fish farm groups last month, after the scientist failed to get permission from a fellow author to present those results for publication. ...more

A recent analysis of smolt-to-adult returns produced by NMFS scientists suggests that transporting juvenile salmon from lower Snake River dams for two weeks in May would produce more adult returns. ...more

At the Corps of Engineers' recent research review in Walla Walla, bird researchers stunned the audience when they told fellow scientists that cormorants and terns in the lower Columbia have doubled their consumption of salmon and steelhead smolts over the past two years. ...more

If good numbers of ESA-listed chum salmon show up below Bonneville Dam, Columbia Basin fish managers wanted dam operators to raise tailwater levels to boost the size of potential spawning areas around Ives Island, below the dam on the Washington side of the river. ...more

Researchers from the University of Washington and other Northwest universities have estimated the three resident Puget Sound orca pods may be chewing through up to 90,000 Fraser River chinook every summer--that's nearly one-third of all the spring, summer and fall chinook that return to the Fraser or its tributaries. The results of the study were published Nov. 9 in the online journal PloS ONE. ...more

Nearly all members of NOAA Fisheries' sea lion task force voiced support for the states' latest application to remove some of the salmon-munching pinniped predators by lethal force at an Oct. 24 meeting in Portland. ...more

Oregon District Court Judge James Redden announced he is stepping down after striking down the last three hydro BiOps. ...more

The federal government has brushed off claims that BiOp habitat actions are way behind schedule saying the latest remand process would fall even further behind if the plaintiffs got their way and a settlement judge is installed to end the dispute over salmon operations and come up with a mutually agreeable plan for the future. ...more

Federal District Judge Michael Simon has been appointed to take over the ongoing remand in the years-long litigation over the hydro BiOp [NWF v. NMFS] from 82-year-old James Redden, who recently announced his retirement. ...more

The federal judge James Redden has retired from the salmon wars, after knocking off three federal plans that purported to operate Columbia/Snake dams in a way that didn't appreciably jeopardize existence or recovery of ESA-listed salmonids. ...more