U.S. frees more water for fish as die-off in Klamath soars

As the death toll of adult migrating salmon topped 12,000 by late Thursday, Bush administration officials pledged to release more water to the Klamath River from Southern Oregon's Upper Klamath Lake.

As the death toll of adult migrating salmon topped 12,000 by late Thursday, Bush administration officials pledged to release more water to the Klamath River from Southern Oregon's Upper Klamath Lake.

Officials said they acted in hopes of halting a salmon die-off that has quickly escalated into the worst seen in decades. One estimate put the number of dead salmon as high as 30,000.

The move came just as conservation and fishing groups went to court alleging the administration's plan for allocating water in the overtapped Klamath system is broken beyond repair. Biologists from tribal, state and federal agencies simultaneously pleaded for help.

The cause of the die-off is debated. Environmental groups and tribal officials placed much of the blame on a new Bush administration water strategy that redirected water from salmon to farmers at the upper end of the river in Oregon. Less water now flows from there into the lower Klamath River, leaving water so warm it accelerates disease and slows salmon migration.

Others, however, say the flow from other rivers also could be a significant factor in the deaths. A top Interior Department official said the administration will act rapidly to aid the dying fish and avoid reviving last summer's angry debate over whether Klamath fish or farmers should have priority for water.

"We may not be sure why this is happening to the fish, but right now the question is, 'Can we find a remedy to help things out in the meantime,' " said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, a senior adviser to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

Any release of water would take about three days to reach the fish kill zone, officials said.

State biologists in California by Thursday had counted 12,000 dead salmon in the lower reaches of the river that begins in Southern Oregon and winds toward the Northern California coast, but predicted the toll will rise.

"We think it's still continuing, and will continue," said Neil Manji, a senior fisheries biologist with the state.

Biologists with the Yurok and Hoopa tribes working on the lower river estimated the number of dead fish at closer to 30,000 or more, close to a third of the river's salmon population and more than half the number expected to spawn in the river this year.

The dead are mostly chinook salmon, a valuable commercial species, but included at least 100 threatened coho salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act. Several thousand coho remain in the Klamath system, with only a few hundred of those surviving without the aid of hatcheries.

The loss of so many fish could have repercussions for management of protected salmon up and down the West Coast because fisheries managers may have to make up for the lost fish and their offspring by reducing the number available to fishermen and tribes.

"If the number lost is as high as 40,000, like we may be hearing, then you're looking at maybe 30 percent of the population," said Jim Lecky, assistant regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. "That's a pretty big hit. That would carry over into future generations."

Salmon experts could not recall such a vast kill of adult salmon in the Northwest in at least two decades. They said it reflects the overlapping demands farmers, fishermen, tribes and others place on the Klamath River system.

"It's not always a good thing to do to push the ecosystem to the point it has to break before it spurs you into action," said Jim Lichatowich, an authority on West Coast salmon and a member of several scientific advisory councils.

Vast amounts of water diverted from tributaries of the river to farmers in California's Central Valley also leave salmon short of water. A court order prevents federal agencies from taking water from the Central Valley farmers and sending it downriver for fish.

"It's hard for me to imagine that what's happening in Klamath is a major factor, because it's only one part of a very extensive system with many, many demands on it," said Doug Markle, a fisheries professor at Oregon State University.

But faced with the specter of a nightmarish fish kill, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John Keys said officials had determined Thursday that there is enough water in Upper Klamath Lake to begin spilling extra water downriver. That could be done without harming endangered suckers that live in the lake or curtailing deliveries to farmers who depend on it for irrigation water, he said.

The water would not only help protected coho salmon but also meet federal obligations to sustain the Klamath River fish populations downriver that tribes rely on, he said.

Tribal officials had said they were considering suing the government for violating those rights by withholding the water that salmon need.

"It's a sickening feeling because we've never seen anything this devastating before," said Sue Masten, chairwoman of the Yurok Tribe.

An alliance of conservation and fishing groups did sue the government Thursday, citing the fish die-off as evidence that the 10-year Bush water plan violates the Endangered Species Act by shortchanging salmon. They asked that a judge order federal dam operators to replace the plan with one that does more for wildlife.
But they acknowledged court action would likely move too slowly to do salmon any immediate good.

A panel of state, federal and tribal scientists in Northern California, joined by the California Department of Fish and Game, also pleaded with Norton to release more water for salmon. But some feared it would be too little, too late.

"They should have done this three or four weeks ago," said Tom Stokely, a county planner in Trinity County, Calif., who assists the research panel. "It's like watching the house burn down to the foundation and then turning on the fire hose."