Ashtyn Harris of Ellensburg ties a small caddis-type fly to her line in the Yakima River Canyon. She watches them in the river area, to decide what to use as… Continue Reading Crowds of caddisflies: A beacon of water healthRead More
Only 12 commercial fishing captains still hold permits to go reefnet fishing in the Pacific Northwest out of a fleet that once numbered in the hundreds. The distinctive fishing technique dates back thousands of years as an Indigenous method to catch salmon. Its practitioners today say the gear should proliferate as the preferred way to harvest healthy salmon runs while Read More
A Trip To The Salmon River With A Local Fishermen: Steelhead Trout Declining In Idaho Continue Reading A Trip To The Salmon River With A Local Fisherman: Steelhead Trout Declining In IdahoRead More
Sea otters are undeniably cute, but cuteness only goes so far when major economic interests are at stake. That's an inference you can make from the emergence of organized pushback to the possible reintroduction of sea otters along the Oregon Coast. Read More
Fishing and hunting license sales jumped in 2020 across the Pacific Northwest as more people flocked to outdoor activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total license purchases rose even though part of last spring was crimped by stay-home orders and in some states by the suspension of non-resident permits. Read More
The Washington State Supreme Court reversed a century-old ruling Friday against a Yakama Nation tribal member for fishing outside the reservation. The 1916 ruling mandated criminal charges against Alec Towessnute for fishing outside the Yakama reservation on traditional fishing grounds – a right assured by the Yakama’s Treaty of 1855 with the federal government. Read More
In Olympia on Monday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced that restrictions on fishing, hunting, hiking and golfing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus will begin easing next week on May 5. Inslee also announced most state parks, state forestlands and state-managed boat ramps will reopen on that Tuesday. Read More
Protesters took to the streets and parks in Spokane Wednesday in two events to push back against statewide stay-home measures. One was largely a Tim Eyman campaign event. The other focused on people wanting to be allowed to fish. Continue Read More
In an unprecedented response to historically low numbers of Pacific cod, the federal cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska is closing for the 2020 season. The decision, announced Friday, Dec. 6, came as little surprise, but it's the first time the fishery has closed due to concerns over low stock. Read More
A new study finds that tuna harvests, including of some species considered "vulnerable," have increased by an astonishing 1,000% in the last 60 years — a rate some scientists warn is unsustainable. Continue Reading Study: Read More
The Trump administration says it is expanding hunting and fishing in 77 national wildlife refuges, including those in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, in a move that critics contend is deferring management to states and could harm wildlife. Read More
Too much fishing with trawl nets led to a devastating collapse in fish populations in the 1990s. Widow rockfish were one of 10 different groundfish species that were declared overfished, and trawl boats were restricted from catching them. Continue Read More
For years, Oregon and Washington have been searching for the best way to catch more hatchery fish while letting the wild fish return unharmed to their spawning grounds. Now, one group says they’ve found it. Continue Reading Banned Fish Read More
A commercial crabbing boat capsized in rough waters off the Oregon coast, killing the three men aboard and sending a shock wave through a seafaring community already struggling from a monthlong delay to the annual crabbing season. Continue Read More
The shutdown has closed much of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which oversees Bering Sea fisheries off the Alaska coast. Industry workers don't know when boats will get needed authorizations. Continue Reading Another Read More
Federal fishery managers are increasing the catch limits for several West Coast species that were overfished and severely restricted for years. Surveys show depleted populations of yellow eye and bocaccio rockfish, cow cod and ocean perch — all classified as groundfish — are rebounding decades ahead of schedule. Read More
Fishing groups in California and Oregon joined the legal fray by filing suit against 30 companies, mainly oil producers. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the plaintiff, contends that the fossil fuel industry is at fault for recent warming-related damages to the West Coast's prized Dungeness crab fishery. Read More
With their tube-like bodies, gaping gill slits, and especially their sucker-like mouths lined with jagged teeth, lampreys aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing creatures. They look like they jumped out of a Ridley Scott sci-fi horror film. But for some Northwest Native tribes, they're a significant part of the culture. Read More
The cod population in the Gulf of Alaska is at its lowest level on record. Scientists say the culprit is a warm-water mass known as "the blob." Continue Reading Gulf Of Alaska Cod Are Disappearing. Blame ‘The Blob’Read More
