- a weekly column published in the Pioneer Press

Recently I attended the Klamath River Basin Fisheries Task Force (KRBFTF) meeting in Klamath Falls. This is one of the federal committees on which I serve. The federal Klamath Act that created the Task Force in 1986 sunsets in September 2006. There is considerable discussion from various groups about the possibility of reauthorizing the Task Force, expanding its membership to include interests such as agriculture and timber, or whether to merge it with the Upper Klamath Basin Working Group.

Irma Lagomarsino from NOAA Fisheries reported that right now the federal coho recovery team is trying to set recovery goals, but is having some difficulty due to a lack of population trend data on adult fish and a lack of abundance data on juvenile fish. The team is looking at another approach, which involves identifying isolated independent breeding populations and looking at their continued viability. Once goals are set, the next step is to call together a multi-stakeholder team to determine the recovery measures needed to meet goals. Eventually, the plan is to use existing watershed councils to implement the recovery measures.

Five million fish left the Iron Gate hatchery in May and early June on the basis of a “volitional release.” There was a discussion about the adequacy of fish marking with coded wire tags. Currently the Trinity River hatchery marks 25% of their fish. PacifiCorp, which is responsible for 80% of Iron Gate hatchery costs, has agreed to mark 25%, but only as a condition of dam relicensing. Without marking, it is difficult to track survival, the impact of the hatchery on fishing opportunities as well as the impact of straying on natural populations.

On May 10, sick and dying fish began to appear in fish screw traps on the Klamath River. A comprehensive fish survey was done on an 87 mile stretch of river from Klamath River Community to below Big Bar. Fish appeared to lack energy, some had bloated abdomens and showed signs of having disease. In samples taken above the Scott River’s confluence with the Klamath River, 0-50% of the fish showed signs of having Ceratomyxa Shasta and 60-95% showed signs of having Parvicapsula (kidney disease.) The natural incidence of these parasitic diseases in Klamath River fish is unknown. Studies are being done to learn more about it. It appears to be a substantial factor effecting fish population trends.

Previously hatchery fish were excluded from the federal Southern Oregon Northern California Coastal (SONCC) Coho listing. Following the Alsea Court decision that hatchery fish had to be considered and counted in that listing decision, NOAA fisheries reviewed the status of 27 fish, including SONCC coho. http://www.regulations.gov/ (look up NOAA and enter “coho” as a keyword.) Based on the assessment that local hatchery fish are only “moderately divergent” genetically from local natural fish, hatchery fish have now been included in the coho listing. Also, the listing status of SONCC coho as “threatened” under th e Endangered Species Act has not changed. The comment period for this change ends on September 13, 2004

This was the first time I had participated in the process to allocate money for the KRBFTF. The Task Force is supposed to receive $1 million a year. This amount has been reduced in recent years. With the reduction and cost of administration, about $559,000 is available for allocation in three areas: (1) Education and restoration; (2) Planning (Watershed Councils); and (3) Monitoring and Research. A Technical Working Group reviews and ranks the proposals for recommended funding.

In the first category, a $45,000 restoration project was funded for the Shasta River and an education project (fish counts) was funded for the Salmon River Restoration Council at $17,000. In category two, the Shasta and Salmon River watershed groups received $25,000 each. (Scott River waived theirs to be applied towards a riparian restoration analysis instead. In the third category, the vast amount of money went toward counts of fall Chinook to plug into the “megatable” for commercial, tribal and sports fishing allocations. About $25,000 went to studying fish disease and about $38,000 on studies relative to the Salmon River spring Chinook.

I was successful in getting the Task Force to write a letter to the Secretary of Commerce and other agencies asking them to include funding for megatable-related studies in their agency budgets, so that more funding allocated by Congress under the Klamath Act can be directed to fish restoration efforts. (More on the “megatable” at a later date.)