A small but feisty fish conservation group is asking a federal judge Wednesday to take the unprecedented action of stopping Oregon's seasonal release of juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Sandy River.
The Oregon City-based Native Fish Society filed suit against Oregon fishery officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service two years ago, contending releases from the Sandy Hatchery harms threatened salmon and steelhead.
On Wednesday it will ask U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty to stop the hatchery's releases — scheduled to begin Saturday with 67,000 spring chinook smolts and 735,000 total fish this spring — until the lawsuit is fought in court.
While the debate whether hatchery and wild salmon and steelhead can co-exist has raged along riverbanks and in scientific journals, a broad legal challenge to a hatchery's is rare and asking a judge to stop smolt releases is a first in Oregon.
Started in 1995, the Native Fish Society has a $390,000 yearly budget, a staff of six, 80 volunteers and membership of 700 advocating for the recovery of wild fish and their habitat. Two years ago it started a project examining the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's hatchery practices, first focusing on the Sandy Hatchery. A year later, it filed a suit challenging the hatchery's operation.
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Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
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