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| Council sets course for fish and wildlife recovery
in 2000
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After the most aggressive and complete review of fish and wildlife projects in the history of the Columbia River Basin, the Northwest Power Planning Council last week recommended 158 projects for funding by the Bonneville Power Administration in Fiscal Year 2000. The proposed projects, totaling $68 million, are the latest result of three consecutive years of increased scrutiny in response to regional, congressional and scientific concerns about the region's efforts to recover and rebuild fish and wildlife populations. The projects approved last week were recommended by the region's state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, by Indian tribes in the Columbia River Basin, and by the Independent Scientific Review Panel. Congress directed the Council in 1996 to establish the science panel, which assists the Council in making its annual decisions about which recovery and mitigation projects should be funded to implement its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The approved projects represent about 53 percent of the annual $127 million budget of the Council's fish and wildlife program. Where there was disagreement about project proposals between the fish and wildlife managers and the independent scientists, the Council provided for additional review and consideration and will decide on those projects in October and early November. |
| Council demands aggressive action
to reduce Caspian tern predation on salmon, steelhead
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On September 23, the Council sent a letter to Will Stelle, regional director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, asking him to develop a management plan to reduce the impact of Caspian terns on juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River in 2000 and future years. The Council recommended that all necessary measures be employed, and that the management goal for 2000 should be to reduce tern predation levels to less than 5 percent of the migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead in river. Predation by terns in recent years has been estimated at 18 percent of the 95 million smolts believed to be in the river's estuary. The Council asked the Fisheries Service to intensify the two-year-old effort to relocate the birds to another area of the estuary -- away from known concentrations of juvenile salmon and steelhead. The Council also expressed "deep concern" that the multi-agency team directing the tern relocation effort has been unable to agree on a management alternative. The management team has requested $642,000 from the Bonneville Power Administration through the Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program for Fiscal Year 2000, but in is letter the Council said it would not recommend funding for the effort unless the federal agencies agree on a management plan by November. |
| Council's review of fish
hatcheries calls for reforms
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In July 1997, Congress
directed the Northwest Power Planning Council, with the assistance
of the Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) , to conduct a
thorough review of all federally funded fish hatchery programs in
the Columbia River Basin and recommend 1) a coordinated policy for
future operation of hatcheries and 2) recommendations for how to
obtain such a policy. The Council's report, completed in
draft, calls for action and leadership to implement new artificial
production policies, decide whether and where to use artificial
production, and ensure that future hatchery funding is contingent
upon a showing that reforms are being made. The Council
recommends that artificial production be used in a manner consistent
with an ecologically based scientific foundation for fish recovery
so that fish can be raised for harvest while minimizing the impact
on fish that spawn naturally. The Council is prepared to do
its part, by amending its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife
Program beginning before the end of 1999. The Council's six
recommendations for implementing the new policy: 1. Evaluate the purposes for all artificial production facilities and programs in the basin within three years. 2. Evaluate and then improve the operation of hatcheries, consistent with the policies proposed in the report, that have agreed-upon purposes. 3. Use existing processes, such as the Council's program or the Endangered Species Act, to implement hatchery reforms. 4. Ensure that money necessary to implement reforms is available. 5. Form an interagency team to oversee the reforms. 6. Assess the success of implementing the recommended reforms after five years. |
| Council OKs continuation of
kokanee research at Lake Pend Oreille
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As part of its review of fish
and wildlife project proposals for Fiscal Year 2000, the Council
recommended that research into the causes of the decline of kokanee
in Lake Pend Oreille continue next year as planned in the five-year
research project that will be entering its fourth year. The
Council made no recommendation on whether to hold the level of the
lake higher for another year. The research project calls for
the lake level to be lowered this winter and in the winter of
2000-2001, after being held higher for the last three winters, to
determine whether that has an effect on kokanee spawning.
1. The ISAB is a panel of 11 scientists who advise both the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Northwest Power Planning Council on scientific issues related to fish and wildlife recovery. |