KLAMATH – The Bush administration's decision to release water into the Klamath River in hopes of saving salmon is too late to do any good and may actually cause more harm, state Fish and Game officials said Friday.
State, federal and tribal biologists wading through tons of rotting fish carcasses along the river banks confirmed that more than 12,000 fish, mostly chinook salmon, were dead. The fish count continued Friday along the 33 miles of the lower river in northwestern California with the count expected to more than double the confirmed number of salmon lost.
A nauseating stench and the sight of belly-up fish this week have run most fishermen out of town, sent tourists home from ruined vacations and brought fear to an ocean fishing industry that will feel the effects of the salmon loss in years to come.
The fish kill also has added a new chapter to a decades-long dispute between environmentalists and farmers over how much water can be diverted from the river for irrigation and how much must remain to maintain fish habitat.
"In the Klamath River there's always a controversy," said Paul Weldon, a game warden with the California Department of Fish and Game. "Even if they started pumping water today it still would take two to three days to get to the area where the fish really need it."
Surveying the damage Friday from boats and helicopters, biologists were unaware of Washington's announcement that the Bureau of Reclamation would increase the amount of water that flows into the river from southern Oregon's Upper Klamath Lake.
Instead they debated the possible causes for the sudden deaths that began a week ago.
Environmental groups and Native American tribes blame unusually low river flows they say are caused by the bureau's diversion policy, which directs Klamath water to farmers in Oregon.
Federal and state biologists said they still aren't sure why thousands of fish showed up dead during the past week and suspect there may be a number of factors, including a warm climate, which heated the river and made conditions too difficult for salmon that thrive in cold water.
Still, at midnight Friday the bureau was scheduled to release more water from Iron Gate Dam, ramping up from a level of 760 cubic feet per second to 1,300 cfs over about three days, said Mark Limbaugh, director of external and intergovernmental affairs.
That increased flow will be maintained until Oct. 12, then gradually reduced to normal release levels for the remainder of the month, Limbaugh said, noting that cooler weather will also help the salmon.
Support for the release also came from Jim Lecky, assistant regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, which helps set protocol for the Bureau's Klamath projects.
He rejected suggestions the short-term dam release would make the problem worse, and said anything that helps spread out the infected fish improves the survival chances of incoming healthy ones.
But the water release schedule drew immediate criticism from state Fish and Game biologists, who said that increasing the flow for the short-term, then suddenly cutting back will hurt more fish.
"They're essentially trying to take care of the problem that's there now, but they're going to result in additional problems later, in our view," said Gary Stacey, fisheries program manager for Fish and Game's Northern California North Coast region.
If the fish are dying from a stress-related disease, as some experts suggest, the increased flow will prompt some infected fish to naturally move upstream, Stacey said.
If the increased flow suddenly declines, many fish will be trapped in pockets, creating multiple congregations of dying fish for the healthy incoming fish to have to swim through, risking further infection, he said.
"Rather than one ball of infected fish, we're going to have more."
Sara Borok, a Fish and Game biologist, inspected dozens of mucous-covered salmon from the river Friday, pulling back their gills to check for disease.
"The fish are stressed so they're producing more mucous to ward off the disease. My knife should not be dripping with slime," she said.
While most of the dead were chinook, she did find a handful of dead coho salmon, which are on the endangered species list.
Borok tallied about 1,000 dead fish Friday. But while buzzards peck at pink salmon flesh stuck to rocks and sand, the majority of fish she saw had been dead for days.
"I really hope we've peaked. I don't want to be counting thousands more dead fish," Borok said.
Earlier this year, a federal judge increased the water allotment that farmers in the Klamath Basin received from the nearby river, angering local fishermen and environmentalists.
A sign posted at a dock on the Klamath River expressed the lingering resentment clearly: "Save a salmon, can a farmer."
Campgrounds were nearly empty, tour guide boats were anchored to the shore and only a handful of fly fishermen dared to stand knee-deep next to stinky, floating fish.
"Luckily it happened toward the end of vacation," said Dave Lloyd, a Healdsburg resident who camps at the river every year with his wife and friends. "We were paid up until the 10th and we're going because of this."
The dead fish have been the topic of conversation at area campsites.
"It's all politics. It's a matter of placating the farmers," said Lloyd, who owns 21 acres of vineyard in Alexander Valley.
About 300 members of the 4,000-member Yurok Indian tribe depend on the Klamath's salmon population for a living, said Arnie Nova, a tribe member and fisheries technician.
"They're nervous because it's going to affect the future run. All of these fish have thousands of eggs in them and now they're not going to hatch," he said.
The tribe has been a vocal opponent of the government's 10-year diversion plan.
"This is a major catastrophe," said Dave Hillemeier, the tribe's fisheries program manager. "With the bureau's plan we're pretty much faced with perpetual drought. If that plan is not changed, all of the species that the tribe depends on are in danger."