Action Alert - Keep the Salmonberry Wild and Remote

An important call to action from the Native Fish Society.

Dear Wild Fish Advocates,
 
In addition to the beautiful, rugged landscape of Oregon's Salmonberry River, it is home to some of the purest populations of wild, native salmonids in the Pacific Northwest, including summer and fall Chinook salmon, winter steelhead, both resident and anadromous cutthroat trout, and endangered Coho salmon. 

For over a hundred years, a railroad has operated in some capacity throughout the river's corridor; however, the canyon’s steep, remote location has proven difficult for railroad maintenance. Currently, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) is seeking comments for alternative recreational opportunities in a development plan for the Salmonberry River Corridor, the 86 mile stretch of railway that lies in the Northwest part of the state connecting the city of Banks to the rural Coast. 

• Oregon’s Salmonberry watershed provides essential habitat for endangered wild Coho salmon, as well as winter steelhead, summer and fall Chinook salmon, and resident and anadromous cutthroat trout.  
• The canyon’s steep valley walls, intrinsic landslide potential, and rugged terrain has proven to be economically prohibitive for railroad maintenance.
• This development plan must include the least-impactful recreational opportunity throughout the Salmonberry River stretch of the corridor to prevent future degradation to this watershed.

Please join us today in asking OPRD to support a primitive trail and minimize the risk of the ecological impacts to wild fish from increased development in the Salmonberry River and keep this canyon wild and remote!

Thank you!
Native Fish Society

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Take action - Prioritize fish & wildlife habitat, not logging in WDFW-owned forests

Some of the most important forest habitat in Washington state occurs on lands held by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Unlike most state lands, WDFW forests are principally dedicated to preserving, protecting, and perpetuating fish and wildlife.

That’s an appropriate gold standard. But logging activities sanctioned in a proposed plan could cause substantial harm to the fish and wildlife habitat the agency should be protecting.

Please let the Department know by sending your comments by Friday, May 23.

(via: Conservation Northwest)

Massachusetts attempting to circumvent commercial striped bass tagging program

An important action alert from Stripers Forever.

In February at the 2012 ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board Meeting, the Board moved to incorporate recommendations by the Interstate Watershed Task Force (IWTF) and ASMFC Law Enforcement Committee (LEC) on reducing illegal commercial harvest of striped bass.

It was the unanimous recommendation of the IWTF and the LEC that all fish harvested for sale be required to be tagged immediately upon possession. The LEC presented the persuasive argument that the longer the fish remain untagged, the harder it is to enforce harvesting rules and the easier it is for illegal activity to occur.
Unfortunately the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing that in Massachusetts commercially caught stripers need not be tagged when harvested but later when they are sold. Doing so will effectively undermine the intent of the tagging program as outlined by the Law Enforcement Committee of the ASMFC. The purpose of tagging at capture is for law enforcement to quickly determine harvesting compliance, to avoid tag sharing and high grading and to reduce the under-reporting of both fish and weights.

If the Law Enforcement Committee recommendations were adopted a commercial fisherman in possession of a fish that is not tagged would be breaking the law. The proposal by the MDMF to not have to tag a commercially harvested fish until it is sold - if it is ever sold - is an open invitation to circumvent harvesting rules and contradicts the intent and goals of the ASMFC recommendations.

This is an outrage that we must do our best to correct. There are two public hearings coming up soon that will give each of us (you) an opportunity to express our (your) feelings on this proposed rule change.  Please attend the hearing nearest you and speak up in favor of tagging at point of capture. Stripers Forever will submit organizational testimony. Each of you should write/speak as an individual, interested party.

MDMF Public Hearings
Feb.11, 2014 - 6 PM
Plymouth Harbor Radisson
180 Water Street
Plymouth, MA

Feb. 12, 2014 - 6 PM
Gloucester High School Auditorium
32 Leslie O. Johnson Road
Gloucester, MA

If you can't get to a meeting then please email Jared Silva and ask the MDMF  to follow the ASMFC tagging recommendations. Insist that commercially caught stripers be tagged immediately when they are caught.

Seattle Stop the Pebble Mine Rally

While we'll have to wait a couple more weeks for the Seahawks superbowl victory parade, there is another big event happening this week in Seattle.

Join Senator Maria Cantwell, Chef Tom Douglas, and commercial fishermen on Thursday, January 23rd at Seattle's Fisherman's Terminal in a call for action to protect Bristol Bay's 14,000 jobs.

LINK

Action Needed: ODFW Coastal Management Plan fails to protect wild fish

The CMP developed by the Oregon Depatrment of Fish and Wildlife staff with limited public input, is primarily a hatchery and harvest plan that is designed to continue most of the current management practices. It is scientifically suspect, and represents a high risk for wild fish on much of the Oregon coast. The draft Coastal salmonid Management Plan (CMP) is available for comment until February 10.

LINK (via:Osprey Steelhead News)

Comments sought on removing Glacier National Park lake trout

Photo: USFWS Mountain Prairie

Glacier National Park is home to approximately one-third of the nation’s bull trout population that lives in natural, undammed lake systems.

That gives the park a critical role in regional bull trout recovery and long-term conservation, according to Glacier management assistant Denise Germann.

To that end, proposals to continue lake trout suppression on Quartz Lake and start lake trout removal on Logging Lake are now available for public review and comment.

LINK (via: The Missoulian)

Comments on the environmental assessment are due Jan. 22.