SALMONIDS , (3)

1. Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystem of Klamath Basin Prepared by: Cody Hoehna ES: 473 Environmental Geology • EULACHON, (3) • Historically abundant in Lower Klamath River • Now extinct in Klamath River PACIFIC LAMPREY http://www.wildcalifornia.org/pages/page-30 Figure 7, Eulachon http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/staff/lackey/pubs/illusion.htm • GREEN STURGEON, (3) • No Historical evidence above Iron Gate Dam • Current population of sturgeon in U.K.L. are from white sturgeon introduced Figure 8, Green Sturgeon Figure 3, Anadromous species associated with Klamath Basin, picture from (Lackey) ABSTRACT The Klamath Basin has a wide variety of anadromous fish. It encompasses all species of salmon, steelhead and other trout, and two types of sucker fishes, very important to the Klamath tribes, recreational and commercial purposes. The Basin was once the third highest producer of commercially fished salmon and steelhead. Today some of these fish stocks are almost depleted such as two sucker species which live in Upper Klamath Lake, and Coho salmon who are now an Endangered Species, (1). There are a number reasons for these declines in fish populations, such as water loss, dams, pollution, and over fishing. The way we deal with this economically important resource is very vital to the fisheries survival and reaching the numbers it once did. • LOST RIVER and SHORTNOSE SUCKER, (3) • Sucker species’ have greater reproductive potential the older they are • Fish kills of 1997-2001 suggest that the older suckers died • This results in lower reproductive numbers than, than earlier years • Harvesting of large older suckers is detrimental to the survival of the species Figure 6, Shortnose Sucker, Live up to 33 years • Figure 5, Lost River Sucker, Live up to 43 years • Pacific Lamprey (Figure 2, attached to salmon) historically could have migrated upstream past Iron Gate Dam but no farther than Spencer creek due to geographical barriers, (3) http://bio.classes.ucsc.edu/bio137/images/lamplife.GIF http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/es/card.htm http://www.watershed-watch.org/ww/Photos/eulachon1.htm • CONCLUSION • Coho are endangered in the Klamath Basin, and sucker populations are low • There is significant evidence of Chinook and Steelhead historically located above the Iron Gate Dam and in tributaries upstream of Upper Klamath Lake, (3) • Most other anadromous species are not effected by the dams, or at least not as limited as Chinook and Steelhead compared to historical distributions • Research suggests that the main issue for most other anadromous fish in the basin is not so much dams but more of a water quality, quantity, and over-fishing issue • This is a very complicated issue dealing with many different groups, both federal and state agencies, tribes, agriculture, fishing industry, locals, power companies and many others battling over water rights • There is no simple solution to the water rights problem in the basin Figure 1, Klamath Basin map of Dams, USBR http://rogueimc.org/en/2005/07/5035.shtml INTRODUCTION The Klamath Basin fishery has gone under significant changes in the past 100 years. There has been issues with water rights between various groups that inhabit the region. What was once a thriving ecosystem for fish has gone through major change. Specifically the Lost River Sucker and Shortnose Sucker, which have a great deal of importance to the local Klamath Tribe, have been reduced in numbers, to allowing the harvest of one fish per year, (1). Another species is the Coho Salmon which have been put on the Endangered Species list in the watershed. Other anadromous species, stated below, have been limited by the placement of dams, (3). REFERENCES CITED 1 Braunworth, W.S., Jr., Welch, Teresa, and Hathaway, R.L., eds., 2002, Water Allocation in the Klamath Reclamation Project, 2001-An assessment of natural resource, economic, social, and institutional issues with a focus on the Upper Klamath Basin: Corvallis, Oregon, Oregon State University Extension Service, Special Report 1037, December, 2002, 401 p. View complete report Note: supercedes Oregon State University, and the University of California, 2001. 2 Lackey, Robert T. 2000. Restoring wild salmon to the Pacific Northwest: chasing and illusion? In: What We Don’t Know about Pacific Northwest Fish Runs – An Inquiry into Decision-Making. Patricia Koss and Mike Katz, Editors, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, pp. 91-143. 3 Hamilton, J.B., Curtis, G.L., Snedaker, S.M., White, D.K., April 2005, Distribution of Anadromous Fishes in the Upper Klamath River Watershed Prior to Hydropower Dams – A Synthesis of the Historical Evidence, Fisheries, Vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 10-20. • SALMONIDS, (3) • There is evidence of runs of Chinook and Steelhead in tributaries above Upper Klamath Lake • Evidence of salmon from personal accounts, photos, and records of bones • This evidence shows runs existing above where dams are now placed • Only 40 km above Iron Gate Dam is the farthest upriver Coho (endangered) could have existed • Sockeye historically may have existed in this region, at present they no longer do • .There is no evidence of Chum above Iron Gate Dam • Cutthroat Trout were also not present above I.G.D • Pink Salmon historically have not been found above I.G.D. • Species seen in figure 3, pre-dam distribution seen in figure 4 Figure 4, Evidence of upstream distribution of anadromous fish in Klamath River and tributaries, from (Hamilton)