(Klamath) A deadly fish parasite has appeared among salmon on the lower Klamath River five weeks than it appeared last year, spurring concerns by the Yurok Tribe and others about a potential fish kill like the one that devastated the river in September 2012.
Yurok Fisheries crews conducting routine fish disease monitoring found that Chinook salmon in the Klamath River on the Yurok Indian Reservation are infected with a potentially deadly disease, “ich,” according to a statement from the Yurok Tribe.
Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, known as ich (pronounced “ick”), is capable of causing large fish kills. It was the primary pathogen in the 2002 fish kill in the Klamath River that killed over 35,000 adult Chinook salmon and steelhead in the Klamath River, according to a statement from the Tribe.
Last year, an outbreak of ich reached high levels, stopping just short of causing a catastrophic fish kill. Last year’s outbreak spurred successful protests by activists from Hoopa Valley, Yurok and Karuk Tribes to pressure the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to release water down the Trinity River to cool the water down to stop the parasite infestation.
“The crews found ich on 6 of 6 Chinook salmon sampled from the Blue Creek refugia. The levels ranged from 3 to 42 per gill arch,” said Michael Belchik, Senior Fisheries Biologist for the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Program.
“This is an early warning sign for the fall migration of salmon in the Klamath River,” said Belchik, who personally witnessed the devastation of the 2002 fish kill. “It means that the risk of a catastrophic fish kill, such as happened in 2002, is high.”
Belchik said fish diseases such as ich are exacerbated by low flows and water temperatures that currently exist in the lower Klamath and Trinity rivers.
The Yurok Tribe said it will be working closely with Federal, State, and Tribal partners to determine what management actions to implement to protect the main portion of the fall Chinook salmon run which has not entered the river as of yet.
“We take this threat to our fish very seriously, and we’re looking at every option to protect our fish. We don’t want to go through another catastrophe like the fish kill in 2002, and we will do anything we can to avoid that outcome this year,” said Thomas P. O’Rourke, Chairman of the Yurok Tribe.
One option could be to release water down the Trinity River, as was done last year.
“We’re talking with other co-managers, including the state, feds and other tribes about our options,” said Belchick. “Were trying to see if it is a good idea to release water now; there are biological consequences to that. The main point is that we’re trying to assess all of our options. There are no easy solutions here.”