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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To: Env-trinity</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tim McKay did some sleuthing through Tribal and
State biologists and found that there are indeed reports of a juvenile fish kill
somewhere between Bauer Creek and the Scott River. The likely culprit is
<U>Ceratomyxa shasta</U>, an endemic parasite to the Klamath River which
allegedly has a polychaete worm as an intermediate host, and a somewhat
complicated life history. As I recall, C. shasta doesn't exist in the
Trinity River. In any case, additional flows from the Trinity River do not
sound like they are a viable solution to the problem because the fish kill is
upstream of the Trinity confluence. If anybody has any url references to
C. Shasta or any other information, please pass it on through this list.
There is much speculation about the cause of the outbreak of C. shasta as it
relates to water quality, but I have seen nothing definitive.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Below is an interesting perspective on the fish
kill and water conditions in the Klamath River from Waterwatch of Oregon.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sincerely,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tom Stokely</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>\*****************************************************************************************************</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Posted by Steve
Pedery:</FONT></DIV>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Hi folks,</FONT>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times">Concern is growing over the potential for
another Klamath River fish kill this spring and summer. Sick and dying
fish have been reported in the mid-Klamath region, and the Bureau of Reclamation
is now offering hatchery managers money to keep young salmon out of the river
during the lethal low-flow conditions that are expected this summer. A
press release on the potential fish kill is attached to this message as a
Microsoft Word document, and pasted into this message below.</FONT>
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<P><B><U><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+3>PRESS
RELEASE</FONT></FONT></U></B></CENTER>
<P><BR>
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<TD width=198><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+0>May 20,
2004</FONT></FONT></I></TD>
<TH width=378>Contact: Steve Pedery, (503) 295-4039, ext.
26</TH></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+2>Low Water Flows,
Disease Hammer Klamath Salmon, Bureau Offers $$ to Delay Hatchery
Releases</FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<P> <I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT
size=+0>Portland--</FONT><FONT size=+2>With concerns that yet another juvenile
salmon kill may be beginning on the Klamath River, the US Bureau of Reclamation
has contacted local fish hatchery managers offering cash in exchange for
delaying their releases of young salmon. The Bureau is also suggesting
that managers release their fish into the river further downstream than normal
in order to avoid the fish-killing low flow conditions that will affect the
river this summer.</FONT></FONT></I>
<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+2>Details on the Bureau’s
efforts to delay the release of young salmon from the Iron Gate Dam fish
hatchery, or move the release to a point further downstream than normal, were
reported in today’s (May 20</FONT><SUP><FONT size=-1>th</FONT></SUP><FONT
size=+0>) Klamath Herald and News newspaper. The Bureau has offered
hatchery managers $65,000 to delay the release of young fish until the fall,
when flow conditions in the river will finally improve.</FONT></FONT></I>
<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+0>“Call me a radical, but
I think fish need water,” said Steve Pedery, Outreach Director of WaterWatch of
Oregon. “Rather than pay fish hatcheries to keep salmon out of the river
this summer, perhaps we ought to consider leaving more water in
it.”</FONT></FONT></I>
<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+0>Biologists and survey
crews from Klamath Basin Native American Tribes have begun work to document
disease outbreaks in the mid-Klamath River, in an area running from
approximately Iron Gate Dam down to the Scott and Shasta Rivers. In this
region water releases from the Bureau of Reclamation’s massive Klamath
Irrigation Project are the primary source of flow. The size and severity
of the current problem is not yet known, but kills of juvenile salmon have
unfortunately become the norm on the Klamath River in recent
years.</FONT></FONT></I>
<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+0>Two weeks ago the Bureau
announced that it was once again downgrading the water year classification for
the Klamath Basin, a move which would reduce the amount of water held in Upper
Klamath Lake and released to the Klamath River and area National Wildlife
Refuges for fish and wildlife. As in previous years, the Bureau’s move
comes after large water deliveries were promised to irrigators within the
Project. Under the new flow management regime, Klamath salmon will face
similar flows to those of 2002--a year when thousands of juvenile salmon were
killed in the spring and over 34,000 adult salmon were killed in the fall by low
flows and disease.</FONT></FONT></I>
<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+0>“Delaying the release of
hatchery fish, or moving them downstream, might avoid the embarrassment of
another major fish kill,” continued Pedery. “Unfortunately the wild salmon
and steelhead of the Klamath River will still be left to face lethal low-flow
conditions this summer.”</FONT></FONT></I>
<P><STRONG><U><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+0>The problems
plaguing juvenile salmon in the mid-Klamath region highlight the fallacy of
arguments that water diversions from the Trinity River are the primary source of
the Klamath’s woes. The Trinity joins the Klamath River a little over 40
miles from the Pacific Ocean. The region where fish are currently sick and
dying is over 100 miles upstream.</FONT></FONT></I> <BR></U></STRONG>
<BR> <BR>
<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT size=+0>For more information on
the environmental crisis in the Klamath Basin, visit <U><FONT color=#0000ff><A
href="http://www.onrc.org/" eudora="autourl">www.onrc.org</A></FONT></U> or
<U><FONT color=#0000ff><A href="http://www.waterwatch.org/"
eudora="autourl">www.waterwatch.org</A></FONT></U>.</FONT></FONT></I>
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<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times"><FONT
size=+0>-30-</FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
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