Tippets: Report on Fish Ladders, Weed Tax for Trout, Mouth of the Elwha, Dorado Catfish Migration

February 15, 2017 By: Erin Block

  • According to a new study, less than three percent of one key species make it upriver via fish ladders. “The researchers’ findings provide a cautionary tale for other nations now planning big dam projects. What’s clear is that providing fish passage facilities at a dam is not a panacea.” Via Yale.
  • The Nature Conservancy, CalTrout, and Trout Unlimited collaborated with the authors of California’s Prop. 64 “to incorporate rules designed to rehabilitate and protect fish and wildlife populations affected by illegal marijuana operations.” Read more from Brett Wedeking via The Drake.
  • Five years after dam removal on the Elwha, the transformation of the river is stark. “Everywhere on the former lake bottom is the work of a river catching up with 100 years of work, moving the logs, stumps and woody debris that had been stuck behind two dams built for hydropower beginning in 1910.” Read more on the changes at the mouth of the Elwha from Lynda V. Mapes via The Seattle Times.
  • The dorado catfish travels from the Andes to the mouth of the Amazon and back, but is threatened by dams and mining. A recent piece in The Guardian takes a look at the threats facing this species.