<html>
<body>
Hi Again Tom,<br><br>
In addition to the disease reference in the flow and hatchery related
article you sent out, there is also a troubling request to not only hold
more Iron Gate Hatchery chinook to yearling size but "letting loose
the ones that are released farther down in the river." Out-planting,
as they call it in the hatchery business, can increase returns by
diminishing competition and increasing survival by shortening the length
of the river journey. It also has the potential to cause a ton of
straying, which will have the effect of homogenizing stocks on Klamath
River tributaries, including the Scott and the Shasta. The last stock
transfer at Iron Gate was 1985-1988 with coho in planted in Middle
Klamath tribs. A experiment to increase returns of Trinity River Hatchery
steelhead by out-planting in the 1980's lead to massive straying.
<br><br>
This policy is against what is recommended in the Klamath Long Range Plan
and was disapproved by a committee of agencies and Tribes when
Klamath-Trinity Hatchery policy was last reviewed in the early 1990's.
The review was in response to a stock collapse, which may have been
related to over-production of juvenile chinook in high return years in
the mid- to late 1980's. I sat on a PFMC sub-committee that delved into
reasons for low returns ("below the 35,000 wild fish floor")
from 1990-1992, and hatchery operation was one of the few factors that
appeared to stand out as a potential causal mechanism. Hatcheries, if
operated inappropriately, can have a confounding effect on recovery of
wild stocks.<br><br>
Any one wishing more information on the problems related to stock
transfer can skim Chapter 5 (starts on p. 215) of the the Long Range Plan
for restoring the Klamath
(<a href="http://www.krisweb.com/biblio/gen_usfws_kierassoc_1991_lrp.pdf" eudora="autourl">http://www.krisweb.com/biblio/gen_usfws_kierassoc_1991_lrp.pdf</a>)
or the SF Trinity Action Plan (Chapter 8), both of which I co-authored.
Chapter 8 in the latter is specifically on the potential side effects of
large scale hatchery operation:
<a href="http://www.krisweb.com/biblio/sft_usbor_pwa_1994_sftplan/pwa27.htm#PotentialImpacts" eudora="autourl">http://www.krisweb.com/biblio/sft_usbor_pwa_1994_sftplan/pwa27.htm#PotentialImpacts</a>.<br><br>
The Humboldt Chapter of the American Fisheries Society passed a
resolution in 1988 to try to curb California stock transfers of
anadromous fish, which I could provide for anyone with a burning interest
in the topic.<br><br>
Cheers,<br><br>
Pat Higgins<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
At 08:09 AM 5/24/2004 -0700, Tom Stokely wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="tahoma"><b>It is
rumored that there is a juvenile fish kill on the mainstem Klamath River
from Ceratomyxa. Can anybody provide additional information on
this?</b></font><br>
<br>
<font face="tahoma"><b>Tom Stokely</b></font><br>
<font face="tahoma"><b>530-628-5949</b></font><br>
<br>
<font face="tahoma"><b>Salmon release date questioned </b></font><br>
<font face="tahoma"><b>Klamath Falls Ore. Herald & News -
5/20/04</b></font><br>
<font face="tahoma"><b>By Dylan Darling, staff
writer</b></font><br><br>
Millions of hatchery-produced chinook salmon fingerlings are set to start
their swim to the Pacific Ocean down the Klamath River.<br><br>
But Bureau of Reclamation officials are asking if some of the salmon can
wait until fall to swim. <br><br>
The California Department of Fish and Game planned to release a million
of the tiny fall-run salmon into the river from the Iron Gate Fish
Hatchery today. Another million are set to swim on May 24 and another 3
million on May 31.<br><br>
On May 13, the Department released its first million fingerlings. The
fingerlings are ready for release when about 90 of them weigh about a
pound together, said Mike Rode, staff environmental scientist for the
department. <br><br>
The state hoped to release the salmon soon because flows in the Klamath
River will be sharply curtailed in June, Rode said.<br><br>
The river flows will be less than expected because of a change in the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's water year type for the river because of a
drop in inflow to Upper Klamath Lake. The Bureau regulates how much water
goes down the river by guiding PacifiCorp's management of its Klamath
hydroelectric project dams. <br><br>
Dave Sabo, manager of the Klamath Reclamation Project, said he was in
discussions with the department this morning about the possibility of
holding a million of the salmon back until next fall and letting loose
the ones that are released farther down in the river.<br><br>
"But we didn't get an answer from them," he said. <br><br>
The Bureau offered to pay $65,000 for the holding of the salmon until
fall. Bureau officials are waiting for a response and should get it
today, Sabo said.<br><br>
<font size=5><b><u>Reports of a disease spreading among salmon between
I-5 and the Scott and Shasta rivers, prompted the request for a lower
release spot.</font> <br>
</u></b><br>
Concerned about the release of the salmon, the Klamath Water Users
Association wrote a letter to the department's regional
manager.<br><br>
In it, the water users ask a number of questions about how the department
manages the salmon and suggests that the department coordinate its
releases with the Bureau's flows. <br><br>
Dan Keppen, water users executive director, said the water users are
concerned about the releases because when things go wrong with salmon on
the river, the Klamath Reclamation Project and its irrigators usually get
the blame. # <br><br>
<br>
<font face="tahoma" size=2><b>KLAMATH RIVER
BASIN</b></font><font face="arial" size=2><br>
</font><font face="tahoma" size=2><b>Klamath farmers, fish short on
water</b></font><font face="arial" size=2><br>
</font><font face="tahoma" size=2><b>Less-than-expected mountain runoff
spurs fears of an irrigation shut-off and a fish
kill.</b></font><font face="arial" size=2><br>
</font><font face="tahoma" size=2><b>Associated Press -
5/21/04</b></font><font face="arial" size=2><br><br>
KLAMATH FALLS
</font><font face="tahoma" size=4>—</font><font face="arial" size=4> The
amount of water running out of the Cascade Range snowpack has fallen
below expectations, leading federal water authorities to scale back
releases for Klamath River salmon and urge farmers to conserve on
irrigation.<br><br>
The water shortage has revived fears that farmers could face another
irrigation shut-off like 2001 and the Klamath River could see another
massive fish kill like the one in 2002.<br><br>
"People are obviously going to tighten up their belt as much as they
can, but I’m not sure what else we can do," said Dan Keppen of the
Klamath Water Users Association, which represents farmers on the Klamath
Reclamation Project.<br><br>
Tribes along the Klamath River in California are concerned that lower
flows this fall could re-create conditions that killed 33,000 adult
salmon in September, 2002.<br><br>
"We’re really concerned, basically because we’re setting ourselves
up for a similar situation," said Toz Soto, fisheries biologist for
the Karuk Tribe.<br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=5><b><u>The lack of runoff prompted the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to reclassify 2004 as a dry year, reducing by
about a third the amount of water mandated for threatened coho salmon in
the Klamath River while leaving full water deliveries to farmers on the
Klamath Project in place.<br>
</u></b></font><font face="arial" size=4><br>
The bureau has been sending extra water down the river this spring to
help young salmon make their migration to the Pacific Ocean.<br><br>
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Reclamation paid farmers to tap private
wells for crops after realizing that Upper Klamath Lake, the primary
reservoir for the Klamath Project, was not filling. The water table has
since fallen in parts of the arid basin.<br><br>
"I’m real nervous about how this is going to turn out," said
Dave Sabo, Klamath Project manager for the bureau. "It’s critical
that people pay attention to what they’re using" for
irrigation.<br><br>
Runoff from the mountain snowpack was originally predicted to be close to
average levels, leading to more water being released downstream through
the winter and early spring. Projections have since fallen to 38 percent
below average, Sabo said.#<br><br>
<br>
</font>_______________________________________________<br>
env-trinity mailing list<br>
env-trinity@mailman.dcn.org<br>
<a href="http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity" eudora="autourl">http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity</a></blockquote></body>
</html>