Tagged: Fishing

A Seattle-based seafood company has been fined 430,000 dollars for violations of the Clean Air Act. Ashley Ahearn reports for EarthFix.

Icicle Seafoods harvests and sells salmon, crab Pollock and other fish from the waters of the Northwest and Alaska. And one of the key components of catching fish and bringing them to market – is refrigerant.

This fall marks the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act – a piece of legislation that changed the way waterbodies in this country are regulated and protected.

Pollution was supposed to be curtailed so that fish from all the waters in America would be safe for people to eat. 40 years later, though, many waterways still bear fish too tainted to consume safely.

One of the most polluted waterways in the Northwest is Seattle’s Duwamish River. We’re taking a look at the Duwamish as part of EarthFix’s series “Clean Water: The Next Act.”

Oregon voters likely will decide this fall whether to ban gillnet fishing in the Columbia River and other state waters. Campaigners say they turned in enough signatures
Monday to qualify their gillnet ban as a ballot measure in the November election. Oregon requires more than 87,000 valid signatures on petitions for initiatives that change state law.

Eric Stachon is spokesman for the Stop Gillnets Now Coalition. He says the group turned in more than 138-thousand signatures to the Oregon Secretary of State.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has released rules for three new marine reserves on the Oregon Coast. The state Legislature approved the reserves at Cape Perpetua, Cascade Head, and Cape Falcon. The reserves will protect species like rockfish, shrimp, and sardines that live near the shore.

A total fishing ban would apply in the core areas of the reserves. In other protected areas, the new rules would allow some salmon fishing and crabbing.

Bristol Bay, in Southwestern Alaska, is the home of one of the world’s largest runs of Sockeye salmon. In fact, all five types of salmon spawn in the bay’s freshwater tributaries.

Bristol Bay could also become the home of a new mine to extract copper, gold and other minerals.

The Environmental Protection Agency has released a risk assessment study on how mining could impact the ecosystem there. The Agency will hold a public hearing in Seattle Thursday.

Ashley Ahearn reports that fishermen in the Northwest are watching the process closely.

A deadly virus that prompted salmon farmers in British Columbia to kill 560,000 fish has shown up for the first time in Washington. Ashley Ahearn reports.

DALLESPORT, Wash. – Columbia River Indian tribes are keeping their ancient traditions alive in the coming weeks with ceremonies to open their spring fisheries. As Courtney Flatt explains, predictions of strong salmon runs are giving the tribes extra reason to celebrate.