[env-trinity] FW: Klamath Fish Disease

Byron bwl3 at comcast.net
Thu Jun 3 15:30:01 PDT 2004


Here's original story erroneously omitted.

Biologists alarmed at disease outbreak in Klamath River salmon

Associated Press - 6/2/04

By Jeff Barnard, staff writer

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - The California Department of Fish and Game is worried
that a parasite killing young salmon and steelhead migrating down the
Klamath River to the ocean could kill hundreds of thousands in coming weeks
as flows reduce.

Young chinook, coho and steelhead infected with the parasite Ceratomyxa
shasta began showing up in traps that sample the annual migration around May
1, said senior fisheries biologist Neil Manji of the department's Redding
office. The parasite is found up and down the river, but the cause of the
outbreak remains unknown.

The parasite infestation injected another source of strain in continuing
tensions over dividing scarce water between farmers on the Klamath
Reclamation Project, endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, and salmon in
the river.

"We get put in a very awkward position," Manji said. "Do you want to use
(water allocated for salmon) not to kill adult fish coming back or to help
young fish go out?"

Releases down the Klamath River have been reduced after it became clear
drought conditions were worse than expected, but the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation is meeting Endangered Species Act mandates for water for
endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho in the Klamath
River, said bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken.

The bureau has also provided extra water for the spring salmon migration
though a water bank that buys water from farmers, and has worked with the
California Department of Fish and Game to spread the release of millions of
young salmon from the Iron Gate hatchery to reduce the strain on habitat,
McCracken said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has generally found water quality and
temperatures to be good for fish, said spokesman Al Donner in Sacramento.

The first sick fish were spotted in the trap farthest upriver. Over the
course of the past month, up to 80 percent of the fish in traps showed
symptoms of the parasite, and 50 percent were dead, Manji said. It is
unclear if the same proportion can be transferred to the millions of fish in
the river.

The numbers raised concerns of a repeat of a 2000 fish kill that left an
estimated 300,000 young salmon and steelhead dead from the same parasite and
a fungus that attacks the gills, Manji said.

The parasite appeared about two weeks before the release of millions of
young salmon from the Iron Gate hatchery, making it unlikely the parasite
infested the fish in the hatchery, or was a result of crowding in the river
caused by the release, Manji added.

He said he was concerned it would get worse in coming weeks, when flows are
due to be reduced to conserve water for irrigation on the Klamath
Reclamation Project, and the return of spawning adults this fall.

 

 

  _____  

From: Salmon Coalition [mailto:rocinante at pelicannetwork.net] 
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 2:30 PM
To: Byron
Subject: Re: FW: Additional information on Fish Disease

 

Byron, 
Is there an attachment with this message? 
Or, was there an AP story meant to be included? 
jack 

Byron wrote: 


  _____  


From: Byron [mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net]


Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 10:59 AM 
To:FOTR List (fotr at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us) 
Subject: Additional information on Fish Disease 

The following additional information, supplementing the AP article below on
widespread Klamath fish disease, was sent to me by Marty Seldon, a member of
the Northern California Council Fly Fishing Federation of America: 

Byron: 

Ceratomyxa, in the Protozoa category, has been known historically in open
California waters such as Crystal Lake, Pit River, and the Trinity
River.........Alex Calhoun, Inland Fisheries Management, 1966, Page 207. 

The added stress caused by low flows brings out the worst. 

Skitt fiske, 
Marty Seldon - FFF 

Byron Leydecker 

Chair, Friends of Trinity River 

Consultant, California Trout, Inc. 

PO Box 2327 

Mill Valley, CA94942-2327 

415 383 4810 ph 

415 519 4810 ce 

415 383 9562 fx 

bwl3 at comcast.net 

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary) 

http://www.fotr.org 

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