East Sand Slough project wraps up in Red Bluff

Red Bluff Daily News — Construction crews successfully completed the Side Channel Reconnection Project at the East Sand Slough as of Jan. 4, furthering the improvement of fish passage from the Sacramento River to the slough. The East Sand Slough Side Channel Project is part of an ongoing restoration project aimed to improve fish passage and reconnect the side channel, offering a rearing Read More…

The US ‘megadrought’ sets another stunning record

CNN — Despite several recent drenching rainstorms in the West and enough snow to top the second story of some buildings, the United States has tied an alarming drought record: At least 40% of the Lower 48 has gone 68 straight weeks -- more than 17 months -- in drought conditions. Drought was present in nearly 55% of the contiguous US this week, according to the US Drought Monitor. The Read More…

New research advocates a basic strategy for native fish recovery:…

PhysOrg — Rivers need water—a fact that may seem ridiculously obvious, but in times of increasing water development, drought, and climate change, the quantity of natural streamflow that remains in river channels is coming into question, especially in the Colorado River basin. Newly published research poses a tough question in these days of falling reservoir levels and high-stakes urban Read More…

CDFW Stocking Brook Trout Into Sacramento-Area Waters This Winter For…

CDFW News — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will provide trout anglers in the greater Sacramento area with an unprecedented fishing opportunity this winter: the chance to catch brook trout from a half-dozen urban and suburban park ponds and lakes that are part of CDFW’s Fishing in the City program. Fishing in the City began in 1993 to provide recreational fishing and Read More…

No Skagit River steelhead fishery for 2022

GoSkagit — Too few wild steelhead are forecast to return to the Skagit River watershed this year for the state to allow for a steelhead fishing season. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife forecast, developed in partnership with tribes that co-manage the region’s fisheries, indicates 3,833 steelhead may return to the watershed. That’s below the 4,000-fish Read More…

Around 30 steelhead found dead near Idaho’s Dworshak Dam

KUOW — The Army Corps of Engineers is investigating whether the start-up of Dworshak Dam’s turbines are responsible for the deaths of around 30 steelhead, according to a press release from the Army Corps. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found the dead fish in late December after Idaho Fish and Game reported sightings of numerous dead steelhead on the North Fork of the Clearwater River, Read More…

New Anchovy Protections Seen as Boost For Ocean Health

Fishermen's News — A new management framework for anchovy that was adopted in November by the Pacific Fishery Management Council goes into effect this month, requiring a regular review of the size of the anchovy population and adjusting catch levels as needed based on annual abundance surveys and other information. The independent non-profit Pew Charitable Trusts hails that change as a Read More…

Mekong group urges better water management collaboration as record…

Reuters — The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) on Thursday called on China and mainland Southeast Asian countries to better coordinate management of Mekong hydropower dams and reservoirs after three years of record low flows and extra dry conditions. The Mekong River's flow dropped to the lowest levels in more than six decades from 2019 to 2021 due to an increased number of Read More…

Alaskans intercepting a lot of BC salmon: study

Business Insider Vancouver — When members of the Pacific Salmon Treaty meet later this week in Vancouver, they will be faced with a new report that suggests Alaskan commercial fishers caught an estimated 800,000 sockeye in 2021, most of which were B.C. origin, while the B.C. commercial sector was largely shut out of last year’s harvest. Commissioned by Watershed Watch Salmon Society and Read More…

If a Turtle Is Caught in a Gill Net and No One Is Watching …

Hakai Magazine — A recent investigation of the California drift gill net swordfishery has revealed a stark discrepancy between fishers’ self-reported accounts of by-catch rates and independently verified figures. Though the examination is of just one fishery, the finding casts doubt on the value of commercial fishers’ self-reporting. In the new report, based on data garnered through a Read More…