With N. California Salmon in Peril, Feds Consider Water Releases

By Jeff Barnard
Associated Press

A federal agency says it's taking another look at releasing water in Northern California's Klamath Basin to prevent the spread of disease among salmon returning to spawn in drought conditions.

A decision is likely this week following discussions with fisheries biologists and others, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Janet Sierztutowski said from Sacramento.

The bureau previously denied a request from the Hoopa Valley Tribe to release water from Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River to prevent the spread of a parasite that attacks salmon in stagnant water, though the bureau said it would release some water if significant numbers of fish started dying.

Scientists for the tribe have said it would be too late by then. The idea is that higher flows make it more difficult for the parasite to swim. Once a significant number of fish are attacked, there is no stopping the parasite, known as Ich, short for Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, scientists said.

Tens of thousands of adult salmon died in 2002 in the Klamath and Trinity rivers from disease in low water conditions.

The tribe took its case to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell last week when she was in Redding visiting firefighting facilities, and she agreed to review the situation.

Last Thursday, the tribe took bureau Regional Director David Murillo and Deputy Regional Director Pablo Arroyave on a tour of the reservation outside Arcata.

The outing included a jet boat ride on the Trinity River and a visit to the reservoir behind Lewiston Dam, said Tribal Chairwoman Danielle Vigil-Masten. No dead fish were seen but there were lots of algae in the warm, stagnant water.

"I think they got an eye-opener," she said.

Tuesday, tribe members are planning to hold a vigil outside the bureau's offices in Sacramento.

Since the 1960s, some water from the Trinity has been diverted through a tunnel system to the Sacramento River system and used for irrigation in the Central Valley. The Trinity's natural flow is into the Klamath River, which flows through Northern California from its south in southern Oregon. The Klamath, now heavily diverted for farms, is home to one of the state's major chinook salmon fisheries.

The Trinity flows into the Klamath River, which also shares water between farms and fish.