Pink Salmon and their Profound Impact on Ocean Ecology
A Little Bit Wonky and a Little Bit Rock and Roll
One important way that The Osprey stands out from other conservation publications is how it balances active conservation advocacy for wild steelhead and salmon, and their habitat, along with a dedication to presenting our readers with the latest and best science that gives us the information needed to more effectively press the powers-that-be for changes that will help our wild fish survive into the future. On some occasions, it’s time to stand up and tell truth to power.
At other times, presenting the cold, hard, irrefutable facts to fish managers and government agencies is the most powerful approach.
In this issue of The Osprey, we have gone to the “wonky” side. We all know by now, probably by heart, the negative impacts hatchery fish have on wild fish — genetic changes, less fitness, etc. — along with the seemingly endless production of hatchery studies as the hatchery-industrial complex continues to perk along, business as usual for the most part. What’s going on with all that?
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The Follies of Salmon Enhancement - Lessons from British Columbia’s Past
Hot Salmon Summer
In a world full of breaking news that comes and goes, one story held throughout the year. That story was that 2023 was the hottest year for both land and sea temperatures world-wide ever recorded since accurate data has been kept beginning in 1850.
The story played out in a seemingly unending series of extreme — and often tragic — weather events. In India, a piece of the Uttarakhand Glacier broke off in the Himalayan Mountains, triggered by heavy rains, causing a glacial lake outburst and subsequent flooding that killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands. In Libya, two dams col- lapsed from the force of heavy rainfall and flooding, com- bined with a lack of proper maintenance of the dams by the Libyan government. Human casualties were estimated to be anywhere from 5,300 to 20,000 people. (See the news story on page 21 of this issue warning about the increasing potential for more such events.)
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The Salmon's History Lesson
The Osprey History Issue
In his wonderful book “King of Fish: The Thousand Year Run of Salmon,” author David R. Montgomery delves into the four Hs — hatcheries, habitat, hydro and harvest — well-known to wild Pacific salmon and steelhead advocates as shorthand for the human endeavors that threaten their very existence. But Montgomery goes one better and adds another “H” to the mix — history — and, when it comes to wild fish conservation, how we have failed to learn from it.
He notes that the catastrophic decline of wild Pacific salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, “is a strikingly faithful retelling of the fall of Atlantic salmon in Europe, and again later in eastern North America.” It echos Pete Soverel’s Hits and Misses” column in the Winter 2023 issue of The Osprey and the truism that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
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Klamath Dams Take-Down
The Powerful Partnership of Science and Activism
"Science without activism is dead science.”
—Yvon Chouinard
There is some big news in the world of wild Pacific salmon and steelhead conservation lately. Just a couple of days before writing this column, the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region over concerns about violating the Clean Water Act. Although the Canada-based company, Northern Dynasty Minerals, Ltd., that proposed the mine is threatening to bring a lawsuit against the US federal government, most wild fish advocates believe the mine’s fate is sealed.
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Fish and Fire
It’s a fortunate thing that readers of The Osprey recognize the value of science in informing efforts to return and restore wild fish and want to learn more themselves, because this issue is packed with some great science. US Forest Service scientist Rebecca Flitcroft starts us out with her in-depth look at how wildfire affects aquatic and riparian habitats, and salmonids. As wildfires increase in frequency and in- tensity throughout Pacific salmon and steelhead country, it is a reality that fisheries managers and wild fish advocates will have to take into account in their efforts to restore and protect wild fish populations. Perhaps surprisingly, the news is not all bad. Fires can im- prove fish habitat over time, and the fish themselves are sometimes able to adapt to changes wrought by wildfire.
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Lower Snake Dams in the Spotlight. Special Snake River Dam Issue
My first encounter with the reality of declining Columbia and Snake river salmon came in the early 1990s. Scientists Willa Nehlsen, Jack Williams and Jim Lichatowich (one of The Osprey’s current scientific advisors) had just published their seminal paper “Pacific Salmon at the Crossroads: Stocks at Risk From California, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington” in the March 1991 issue of Fisheries Magazine, warning of the looming extinction threat facing wild salmon and steelhead from the cumulative impacts of human activities.
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The Osprey: Commercial Fisheries Affect Columbia River Chinook Size and Age Classes
It’s no mystery that the ocean is a mysterious place, largely unexplored despite our advanced technology. But the sea does give up some of its secrets — most recently living sponges beneath an Antarctic ice sheet, a fluorescent shark and mammoth tusks 10,000 feet down on the ocean floor.
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The Osprey 100th Issue: Three decades of advocating for wild salmon and steelhead
Yvon Chouinard, founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, legendary mountaineer, conservationist, and steelheader once said “science without activism is dead science.” That could have made a pretty darned good motto for The Osprey. With this edition, we celebrate our 100th issue of bringing vital information about dwindling populations of wild Pacific salmon and steelhead in service of their recovery and conservation.
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The Osprey: Last Chance to Save Olympic Peninsula Wild Winter Steelhead?
One of the four “Hs”, dams, even those whose purpose is not for hydropower, have bedeviled wild fish advocates conservation efforts for decades. While dams have certainly benefitted human societies over the centuries, they have also had significant — and sometimes devastating — effects on wild fish ranging from water quality and habitat degradation to the outright extermination of entire salmon and steelhead runs by blocking their historical migration routes.
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The Osprey: Historic Decision Ends Atlantic Salmon Farming in Waters of BC’s Discovery Islands
With an official announcement on November 17, 2020, it appears that after decades of planning, complex negotiations and unanticipated setbacks, the removal of the four lower dams on the Klamath River — a longtime goal of wild fish advocates — is at the cusp of becoming reality.
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The Osprey: Rewilding the White Salmon River
Sometimes it seemed as if the entire West Coast was on fire this summer. As of late September, about 4 million acres had burned in California, more than a million in Oregon and 626,000 in Washington. As of this writing, California wildfires have destroyed more than 8,000 structures and killed at least 26 people. In Oregon, those numbers are 3,000 and 10, respectively. Washington State has fared a little better with just under 400 buildings destroyed and one reported death.
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The Osprey: Fraser Basin Summer Steelhead Collapse
As much of the world’s population hunkered down over the last couple of months to help slow the spread of the Coronavirus and Covid-19, the disease that it causes, scientists and other observers of nature began to notice some changes. As human activity — everything from travel, use of motorized vehicles, industrial and other commercial endeavors slowed — the planet was slowly becoming noticeably cleaner and quieter.
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The Osprey: Lower Columbia River Pound Nets
The cover story for this issue of The Osprey, “Commercial Fish Traps for Bycatch Mortality Reduction in Salmon Fisheries” by Adrian Tuohy of the Wild Fish Conservancy puts forward a potential solution for addressing the challenge of maintaining commercial salmon fishing in mixed stock fisheries while protecting wild fish — especially stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act.
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The Osprey: Hatchery Pink Salmon Hog North Pacific Salmon Habitat
Long-time readers of The Osprey know that we often publish articles about ocean conditions as they relate to Pacific salmon and steelhead, and particularly for our ongoing coverage of the impacts of climate change on the ocean environment, and what that might mean for wild fish.
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The Osprey: The Wild Steelhead of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula
The Osprey partnership appreciates sincerely the generous financial support from the many donors listed on page 24. Your support makes publication of The Osprey possible and informs the public and resource managers of current wild steelhead and Pacific salmon scientific and management issues. Our ability to publish The Osprey depends directly on raising at least $18,000.00 annually — a serious challenge that you are helping us meet.
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The Osprey: An In-Depth Look at the Thompson River Wild Steelhead Crisis
As I write this column, it’s the 31st day of the partial government shutdown, set off, as we all know by now, by a political dispute over whether or not to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. And believe it or not, the shutdown has even affected The Osprey, causing a delay in some articles being turned in because authors affiliated with shuttered federal agencies were among the approximately 800,000 furloughed workers or the peer-review process held up.
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The Osprey: Replacing Hatchery Driven Salmon Management with a Place-Based Focus
As long-time readers know, The Osprey has been continuously published by the Steelhead Committee of the Federation of Fly Fishers since 1987. Over the intervening 30 plus years, it has established itself as THE definitive salmon/steelhead conservation journal. This issue marks the beginning of a new era for The Osprey which will now be published by a consortium of like-minded conservation organizations: Fly Fishers International, The Conservation Angler, World Salmon Forum, Skeena Wild, Steelhead Society of British Columbia, and Wild Steelhead Coalition, with additional support from Trout Unlimited and The Fly Shop (Redding, California).
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The Osprey: Managing Columbia River Wild Steelhead for Extinction, Part III
I’m pleased to inform our loyal readership of wild fish advocates that there are dramatic changes for The Osprey commencing with the September 2018 issue. Since its inception in 1986, The Osprey has been produced and published by the Steelhead Committee of Fly Fishers International (formerly the Federation of Fly Fishers). Several prominent conservation organizations — The Conservation Angler, Steelhead Society of British Columbia, World Salmon Forum, Wild Steelhead Coalition, Skeena Wild, Wild Steelhead Coalition — have joined in partnership with Fly Fishers International to expand the content, reach and impact of The Osprey on Pacific salmon and steelhead conservation.
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The Osprey: Removing San Clemente Dam Did More Than Restore Fish Passage
My one and only experience with Atlantic salmon was in September of 1992 with long-time friend Tom Pero, now Publisher at Wild River Press, and it was a magnificent experience. Tom and I flew to Quebec’s Ungava Peninsula and spent a week fishing the Meleze River, where I landed my first (and only) Atlantic salmon on a fly. I can assure you that its moniker Salmo salar “The Leaper” is well justified. It was a beautiful, bright fish and after admiring it for a moment, I let it slip back into that icy sub-arctic river. I believe that was the last wild Atlantic salmon I have seen.
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The Osprey: The Case for Managing Skagit River Wild Steelhead
Throughout last year’s presidential campaign — all the debates, analysis and opinions — I don’t recall hearing anything about wild fish. But it is now apparent that the election of the present administration and its policies have the potential to greatly affect wild Pacific salmon and steelhead conservation. And for the most part, not in a good way.
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