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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Discovery
students learn about fish disease on the Klamath<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Siskiyou
Daily News-5/14/10<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By
Jamie Gentner <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Of
all the issues affecting Chinook and Coho salmon, the key issue limiting their
numbers is fish health, according to Matt Baun of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. A major detriment to the health of juvenile salmon on a portion
of the Klamath River just below Iron Gate Dam is Ceratomyxa Shasta (C. Shasta)
– a major disease organism infecting the juveniles.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“This
issue is on the verge of being in the national spotlight,” Baun told
members of the media and a class of students from a Discovery High School ROP
natural resources class during a tour to learn more about the disease.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
group traveled to the site where researchers trap juveniles in both screw traps
and frame nets to collect data to determine the prevalence of the C. Shasta.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>He
explained that various agencies have joined forces to form a fisheries program
that addresses the disease and other factors affecting the fish in the third
most important river for the salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Nick
Hetrick, fisheries program leader with the USFWS, said the agencies like the
USFWS and California Department of Fish and Game, and groups like local tribes,
have come together to address the issue of interjurisdictional territory and to
combine resources so the groups could find out what needs to be done to improve
fish health.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>A
vital part of those efforts is the work of fish biologists like Steve Gough,
who works out of the USFWS Arcada office. During the tour, he explained the
life cycle of the salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Adult
salmon densely populate the Klamath River from Iron Gate Dam to the Shasta
River confluence. They start spawning in the fall after a 200-mile migration
and dig a spawning nest where eggs incubate for up to three months. In early
spring, the eggs hatch.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>They
slowly make their way out of the gravel and into the water of the river and
start their own migration, moving from freshwater to the ocean. After spending
a few years in the ocean, the salmon will make their way back to the Klamath,
where they start the cycle over again.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Unfortunately,
with the appearance of the C. Shasta – which just entered documentation
in 1997 – about 45 percent of the juvenile salmon aren’t making it
through that whole life cycle.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
C. Shasta isn’t necessarily always fatal to fish, USFWS Fish Health
Biologist Scott Foott said, but in the Klamath River, the parasite is
overwhelming fish.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
organism is produced by a worm-like creature that infects fish with the disease
that turns into spores. The infection causes bleeding in the fish, which leads
to the fish becoming anemic. It weakens the fish, which is eventually killed by
the predator.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>When
the fish dies, the spores are released into the river by the billions, which is
ingested by other fish and invades the tissue of the fish.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Fish
Biologist Philip Colombano and biological science technicians Ryan Slezak and
Ernest Chen removed some salmon from the traps at the site of the tour so media
personnel and the students could see what they look for. Foott held one
juvenile salmon and pointed to a bleeding eye and gray gills (they should be
pinkish in color) as a sign of the C. Shasta infection.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“The
parasite adapts – it takes advantage of the conditions of the
system,” Foott said. “The combination of the environment, the
conditions and an abundant run of salmon creates good conditions for the
parasite.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Because
the adults come to the same site in the river to spawn, he added, a perfect
cycle is created and the parasite has become native to the Klamath instead of
spreading out elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>That
has created some detrimental impacts, Foott said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“It
is slowing restoration efforts,” he said. “The stocks in the Scott
and Shasta systems have been hit hard.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
occurrence of the parasite has been steady over the last four to five years,
with some heavy rains scouring the site and minimizing the impact a little. But
Foott said the USFWS personnel expect the occurrence over the next two years to
be relatively high.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But
it’s something that is hard to eradicate.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“Only
about 10 percent of adults carry 99 percent of the spores,” Foott said,
so it’s not easy to find those hosts and remove the parasite from the
system.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Varying
the river’s flow enough to scour the area could help, but
“there’s not enough water in the system on a natural basis to make
that possible,” Foott said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
Fisheries Program is aiming to set up models to help determine how much water
would be needed or what other routes could be taken.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“Because
we would be asking for water – an extremely important asset, especially
in this area – we have to be sure that the affect would work,” Foot
said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>He
said it would likely be another two to three years before any solutions are
offered.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“We
have to do something now. We can’t wait,” Foott said. “So,
we’re going to study these models, ask questions ... and see what can be
done to bring the infection levels down.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land/fax (call first to fax)</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
mobile</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
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