Tag Archives: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
In severe drought plan, California salmon may be moved by truck
Starting next month, millions of young California salmon could be migrating to the ocean in tanker trucks instead of swimming downstream in the Sacramento River. Read more here sacbee 08:31
To be Served Today: Commercial fisheries groups plan to sue over turtle regs
The N.C. Fisheries Association teamed with the Carteret County Fisherman’s Association for the action and will be represented by local attorneys at Wheatly, Wheatly, Weeks, Lupton and Massie, a Beaufort firm. Those served notice of the intent to file legal action are several high profile individuals, including John Skvarla, secretary to the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources; Dr. Louis Daniel, executive director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries; Gordon Meyers, head of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission; Sally Jewel of the U.S. Department of the Interior; Daniel Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; NOAA head Dr. Kathryn Sullivan; and Penny Pritzker, secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Read more here carolinacoastonline 13:56
Filed on behalf of Fishermen, Pacific Legal Foundation Sea Otter Lawsuit Dismissed
“Obviously, we think the judge’s decision is wrong,” said PLF attorney Jonathan Wood, whose sole option, as detailed by the judge, is to pursue an Administrative Procedure Act petition to rescind relevant parts of the 1987 rule. “Since the dismissal took place so recently, the fishermen are still considering their options to appeal.” Read more here independent.com 18:25
NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Correct GE’s Misinformation in Latest Hudson River Pollution Report
Fishery injury: For more than 30 years, PCB levels in fish throughout the 200 mile Hudson River Superfund Site have exceeded the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) limit for PCBs in fish. Fish consumption advisories for PCB-contaminated fish have existed since 1975. Read [email protected] 10:24
Here’s the First Fish to Ever Be Taken Off the Endangered Species List
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — A tiny minnow that lives only in Oregon backwaters is the first fish ever taken off U.S. Endangered Species Act protection because it is no longer threatened with extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was to announce Tuesday that the Oregon chub was recovered, 21 years after it went on the endangered species list. The agency will monitor the fish for nine years to make sure populations continue to grow. Read more@theblaze 17:43
It never end’s. Analysis targets commercial fishing’s role in manatee deaths and injuries
How many manatees can commercial fishermen in Florida injure or kill every year without affecting the future of a species that has been on the endangered list since 1967? The answer, according to an analysis the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unveiled Thursday, is 14. The only problem: The agency says the annual average number of deaths and injuries due to commercial fishing is 99. And that calculation doesn’t include the record 829 manatees overall that died in 2013. Bob Jones, who has been executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association for four decades, said he had not seen the report yet but “I don’t believe it.” In his view, commercial fisherman play a negligible role in the future of manatees. Read [email protected] 21:0
The Endangered Species Act Turns 40—Hold the Applause – Schiff and MacDonald – Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
The badly administered law has had a limited effect on wildlife while inflicting great social and economic costs. Forty years ago, on Dec. 28, 1973, the Endangered Species Act became law. If you want to celebrate, you’ll need to close your eyes to hard truths. Read more @facebook.com 16:26
“I don’t know what we’ll find here,” Enigmatic eels a focus of concern
On a chilly morning when other watermen on the Patuxent River dredged for oysters, Jimmy Trossbach sought more slippery quarry — American eels. Last week, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which oversees near-shore fishing along the coast, put off a decision on catch limits until May while one state, Maine, works to slash its commercial harvest of young “glass” eels. more@baltimoresun 08:08
Government Shutdown: Monomoy shellfishing in dispute – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,”Harvesting must discontinue – Chatham Balk’s!
CHATHAM — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fanned an ongoing debate with Chatham when it informed town officials Thursday that the productive shellfish flats off were included in the government shutdown that has paralyzed Washington and halted everything from tours of the White House to roaming the Cape Cod National Seashore. more@capcodtimes 08:56
Rocky Barker: A quick guide to the salmon-dam debate
The proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, tribal, state and other biologists to test higher spill — water that doesn’t go through power-generating turbines — at the eight dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers is a continuation of a long debate among scientists. So what are the biologists proposing? more@idahostatesman 07:38
Sea lamprey control planned for Lake Michigan tributaries
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel will apply lampricides to the Millecoquins, Cataract, and Rock rivers and Mile Creek (Mackinac and Schoolcraft counties) to kill sea lamprey larvae burrowed in the stream bottom. more@sootoday 09:00
Second meeting set in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Services sea turtle habitat proposal
The critical habitat designation is a reaction to lawsuits from special interest environmental groups and more research is needed before any such action is taken. The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to designate 739 miles of oceanfront beaches along the coast of six states as critical habitat for nesting loggerheads. It includes 96 miles in North Carolina, including all of Bogue Banks, Onslow Beach and Topsail Island. [email protected] 15:52
National Marine Fisheries Service proposal targets near-shore habitats
The proposal notes certain possible threats to the sea turtles — including offshore structures, lights on land and water, oil spills and response, alternative offshore energy development, fishing gear, and dredging — that could require “special management consideration.” The NMFS proposal follows the companion U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans tomore@ designate critical habitat along 740 miles of shoreline from North Carolina to Mississippi. more@jdnnews 07:28
Farthest north yet: Dead ‘leaping’ carp found north of Winona, Minnesota
A worker with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service discovered the 30-inch-long carcass on Aug. 9 atop a concrete abutment just below Lock and Dam 5, about 20 miles farther upstream than the previous northernmost instance of a silver carp on the river, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said. The dam is about 110 miles south of St. Paul.more@startribune 16:06
Carteret County Commissioners in North Carolina threatens legal action over loggerhead habitat designation
Carteret County Commissioners are taking a stand against proposed federal rules they say would be costly and unnecessary regulation and cross a line in efforts to protect loggerhead sea turtles. “There needs to be an end,” said Commissioner Robin Comer during Monday night’s meeting of the Board of Commissioners, where two actions were taken in opposition to proposed critical habitat designations. more@starnewsonline 13:14
An otter mess – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Defies Congress and the law, The Otter Project announced they will be filing papers to intervene
“They’re seeing their commercial interests take precedent over everything else and I don’t believe that,” said Steve Shimek, executive director of The Otter Project. “I don’t believe the immediacy they’re portraying. They’re portraying mongrel hordes of otters are waiting in the line to eat all ‘their’ urchins and that is not the way it is.” more@vcreporter
California representatives: Federal reports confirm Bay Delta plan not based on sound science
On Friday, several U.S. Representatives from Northern California called on the Brown Administration to withdraw and fully revise their proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) in light of draft environmental documents being found “biased” and “insufficient” by federal agencies in public comments made available Thursday. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service provided these comments to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) as part of a review of the draft environmental impact report/environmental impact statement. continued@lakecountynews
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released draft of its revised Alaska Sea Otter stock assessment – more than doubled over the past decade, audio
KFSK – The draft estimates a total of 25, 712 otters in the region. The number is based on aerial surveys done by researchers in 2010 and 2011. That compares with 10,563 otters in 2003. The latest numbers won’t come as a surprise to many who have been following this issue. Federal scientists had already presented results from their population studies in public presentations and news reports over the past couple years. opportunity for public comment. continued
Fish agencies still have concerns about Bay Delta Conservation Plan tunnels
Federal wildlife agencies still have serious concerns about how two giant water diversion tunnels proposed in the Delta may harm imperiled species such as salmon and Delta smelt. In comment letters made public Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service praised Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration for making progress on many concerns they raised in so-called “red flag letters” released last year. But the agencies also said the Bay Delta Conservation Plan still presents a number of major concerns, some of which they labeled “critical.” continued
Delta Pumping Restrictions: It’s About Salmon – by Dan Bacher
The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), responding to a Brown administration announcement that water supplies from South Delta pumping facilities have been cut significantly to protect Delta smelt, reminded the public and government officials that pumping restrictions are just as much about salmon as they are about Delta smelt. As salmon go, so goes the water, the health of the Delta and salmon jobs up and down the state, according to GGSA. “While the immediate reason water diversions are reduced in the delta is due to delta smelt being killed at the diversion pumps, the juvenile salmon are also out migrating through the delta now and are being killed by the pumps,” said GGSA president Victor Gonella. Read more here
Hurricane Sandy Emergency Supplemental Funding U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Facilities To Be Repaired
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will receive $68.2 million to make repairs to 25 national wildlife refuges and three national fish hatcheries from Florida to Maine. The funds will be invested to restore facilities to their pre-Sandy condition. Projects will include debris field clean-up, rebuilding roads, trails, and other public access facilities, and restoring important ecosystems that benefit communities as well as wildlife. In many areas, the Service will restore facilities to be more resilient and withstand future storms and rising sea levels. Read the list here
SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska Unified Command continues investigation of oiled wildlife
SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska – The Unified Command – consisting of the Coast Guard, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and communities of Gambell and Savoonga – continues to investigate the reports of oiled wildlife on the coast of St. Lawrence Island. The Coast Guard, ADEC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deployed investigators to St. Lawrence on Friday to work with local guides to conduct shoreline assessments.http://www.sitnews.us/1112News/111312/111312_oiled_wildlife.html
