By JEFF BARNARD AP Environmental Writer GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — A panel of scientists has advised letting anglers catch more shad, smallmouth bass and walleye in the Columbia and Snake rivers to help out wild salmon. The reason is that hydroelectric dams have turned the rivers into a series of lakes where nonnative fish have an advantage. Those fish eat a lot of baby salmon, compete with salmon for food and pass on disease. But the head of fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says not enough people fish for these species to make much difference. Ed Bowles noted that there’s been a bounty on northern pike minnow, a voracious predator of young salmon, and their numbers still have not been appreciably reduced. The Independent Science Advisory Board report said nonnative species — fish, shellfish and plants —...
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