Klamath River Fish Disease:  Meeting To Fund Research  

December 23, 2007

KLAMATH COMMON GROUND ALLIANCE, KCGA, is a coalition of Klamath Basin Farmers and Ranchers, Klamath River Tribal Fishermen, Oregon and California Coastal Salmon Fishermen, and supporting businesses and community members.  KCGA invites you to take part in a meeting to discuss and formulate a formal request for federal funding for fish disease research on the Klamath River .  An agenda is attached, along with a description of the diseases from the research team and the policy/mission statement for the Klamath Common Ground Alliance. It is our hope that this request for funding, and the logistics to finalize the request can be accomplished at this meeting. The meeting has been set for 9:00 A.M. January 7, 2008 at the Wayne Morse U.S. Federal Court House, 405 East 8^th Avenue , Eugene , Oregon .

Please RSVP by Email, your ability to attend this meeting to:   merzgigs@yahoo.com

If you have questions please contact:   Paul Merz, 541-290-9212    Dick Carleton, 541-891-7733 or   Rick Goche, 541-991-2963.

RECENT HISTORY

Recent research suggests that a parasitic disease related, catastrophic mortality, of downstream migrating smolts is a primary cause of continuing fishery failures in Klamath Basin Salmon Stocks.  For the last year, KCGA, and others, have been working collaboratively to develop support for funding a coordinated research effort to decrease the loss from disease of out migrating salmon smolts on the Klamath River . The 2002 adult fish kill on the Klamath River produced headlines, but the continuing loss of juveniles to disease caused by the parasite Ceratomyxa Shasta (C-Shasta) was the largest cause of the 2005-2006 fisheries disasters that closed 700 miles of the Oregon and California coastline to commercial salmon fishing.

STAKEHOLDERS STATEMENT OF NEED

The high mortality rate on the Klamath due to C-Shasta, for juvenile Chinook and Coho Salmon (which are an ESA listed species), is a systemic problem that is unique (at this time) to the Klamath.  While the C-Shasta parasite is present in other Northwest streams, it has done by far the most damage on the Klamath River, where infection rates in juvenile Chinook are as high as 45%, with mortality rates in the infected out migrating smolts as high as 50%.  If this high rate of infection is not addressed, recovery of these two species on the Klamath, and the continued viability of the in river and ocean commercial salmon fisheries are doubtful.

Currently, research is being led by Dr. Jerri Bartholomew of Oregon State University, Dr. Gary Hendrickson of Humboldt State University, Ron Hedrick of University of California, Davis, and Dr. Scott Foott of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, in a cooperative effort with Tribal biologists.  Funding for current research has been provided by Bureau of Reclamation on an annual basis.  That funding has given the research team the ability to make some preliminary findings and observations.  The levels and stability of that funding can’t provide the security needed to undertake the level of research necessary to provide more than limited monitoring and baseline data. Expanded research would seek to make scientifically supportable recommendations for changes to Klamath River management to reduce the rate of Ceratomyxosis to the point that the Klamath would no longer drive management of the ocean commercial salmon fisheries.  Lower disease levels and the resulting higher survival of juvenile salmonids will also: 1) Improve catches for Tribal and recreational fishermen in the river, 2) Return the river to higher natural production levels, 3) Relieve some of the need for Klamath hatchery production to sustain fisheries, 4) Restore heritage values associated with robust fish populations, and 5) Relieve some of the pressure placed on Upper Basin irrigators to give up water for fish production.  Information gained from the continuation of this research will also provide an essential management tool should there occur an outbreak of C-Shasta or similar water borne disease in another Pacific Northwest river system.

CONCLUSION

We appreciate the support and effort made by the Oregon and California , State and Federal Congressional representatives, and Governors’ offices to obtain disaster relief for the Ocean and Tribal fishing industries, but we do not want to see another disastrous season like those that occurred in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

There is a high level of support to fund, expand, and continue this research from the Tribes, Coastal Fishing Communities, the Basin Farm Community, and the environmental community.  We are all aware that the Klamath dam license renewal settlement talks include provisions to fund disease research, but the concern is timeliness. Our understanding is that the dam re-licensing settlement will carry a large price tag, and that disease research is but one paragraph in this 200-page document.  Once the settlement is agreed to, it must be ratified by each of the participating groups before being submitted to Congress for final approval and funding.  We fear that this process will take time our industries and communities don’t have if we are to survive and that the value of the completed research could be lost during the political process.

Therefore, we believe, interim research funding should be secured separately from the dam re-licensing agreement so that the research can proceed uninterrupted while the settlement agreement is finalized and funded.  Assuming a settlement agreement is reached, and funding is secured, continued funding could then come as part of the settlement agreement. If the implementation of the settlement agreement is delayed, this requested funding would allow the research to continue.

Finding an answer to the high mortality caused by C­-Shasta, will not address the habitat needs on the Klamath, nor is it a substitute for dam removal, but it does represent the quickest way to return ocean and river fisheries to viability, and improve life for those who depend on Klamath fish runs to survive.

Your help with this process is very much appreciated.  

Klamath Common Ground Alliance  

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Improving Ecosystem Health to Reduce Disease in Klamath River Salmon

November 26, 2007

Arcata , CA  

The Problem: The effects of declining Pacific NW salmon populations on coastal economies and tribal communities have been felt for several decades, but the reduction of the commercial catch by 90% in 2006 was a direct result of the weak returns of Chinook salmon to the Klamath River (KR).  Severe infection by the myxozoan parasite Ceratomyxa shasta has, in large part, been responsible for the declining numbers of juvenile KR fall Chinook and coho salmon and subsequent impacts on later adult returns. Compared with infection of juvenile Chinook salmon from other Pacific NW rivers, the numbers in the KR are striking.  For example, in 2004, approximately 45% of juvenile KR salmon had severe Ceratomyxa shasta infections. Whereas, in the Fraser River, Canada, C. shasta infection prevalence was estimated to be 3.3% and in the Columbia River estuary, C. shasta was detected in 9.6% and 12% of juvenile Chinook salmon in 1983 and 2001, respectively. The high prevalence and severity of C. shasta infections in KR fish indicates this parasite is a key factor limiting salmon recovery in that system.

Ceratomyxa shasta has a complex life cycle, involving an invertebrate (polychaete worm) host as well as salmon (see diagram). Salmon in the KR have evolved with C. shasta and are relatively resistant to infection compared to salmon from rivers where the parasite is absent, thus the current severity of ceratomyxosis in these fish suggests a shift in the host:parasite balance. Research conducted by OSU and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have identified a stretch of the river in which high parasite densities and large numbers of infected invertebrate hosts result in severe disease and high mortality, thus providing a target for management actions. 

Solution: In 2007, a multidisciplinary panel of fish disease experts and fishery managers met to develop a research plan focused on management actions to reduce disease (ceratomyxosis) in natural juvenile salmon of the KR. This proposed research effort is in addition and complementary to on-going monitoring in the basin. The reach from Iron Gate Dam to the Scott River was identified as the primary management area, based on juvenile salmon infection status and data from fish exposures, invertebrate host surveys and water sampling studies.  

Potential management actions would have the goal of:

1. Reducing polychaete host populations in the selected KR reach,

2. Reducing the effects of the infectious actinospore on juvenile salmon,

3. Reducing the input of myxospores from specific salmonid fishes

4. Decreasing fish exposure/Increasing fish resistance

A preliminary ranking of management actions was made based on the likelihood that the action would result in a reduction in ceratomyxosis in natural salmon populations of the Klamath River . Other considerations included the effect on non-target organisms and the ability to monitor effects.  The panel recommended several actions as being the most likely to cause a biological effect and as high priority for further research. We propose to test the feasibility of the highest priority management actions through controlled laboratory and field experiments. These studies would be conducted over 2-3 years, leading to large-scale tests or implementation.   

The panel recommended several actions as being the most likely to cause a biological effect and as high priority for further research. We propose to test the feasibility of the highest priority management actions through controlled laboratory and field experiments. These studies would be conducted over 2-3 years, leading to large-scale tests or implementation.  

Impacts: Salmon losses in the Klamath basin have had devastating effects on tribal communities along the river and the coastal communities of Oregon and California . The recent closure of the salmon troll industry in 2006 was a management decision in response to the low contribution of the Klamath basin - only 5% of the fishery - with disease being a primary factor. The cost to Oregon coastal communities was estimated to be $28 million dollars in 2006 and Governors of both Oregon and California declared fishery disasters that resulted in allocation of $60 million dollars in federal assistance. Salmon trollers estimate that reducing disease effects by as little as 10% would increase the number of Klamath Rive adult salmon to the point that fishing on that population could resume and allow that industry to survive.  

Contributing Panel:  The following university and fisheries experts met in August 2007.  

Disease         Jerri Bartholomew, Oregon State University

                                    Ron Hedrick, University of California , Davis

                                    Gary Hendrickson, Humboldt State University

                                    J. Scott Foott, USFWS CA-NV Fish Health Center

            Hydrology       Mike Deas, Watercourse Inc.

            Fisheries        Josh Strange Yurok Tribe

Nicholas Hetrick and Tom Shaw, USFWS Arcata FWO

Mark Hampton, Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game

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Klamath Fish Disease Funding Meeting:  

9:00 AM, Jan. 7^th, 2008 .  Federal

Court House, 405 East 8^th Ave. Eugene , Oregon .

Agenda:   This agenda will stay flexible while trying to maintain the primary goal of ending the meeting with an agreement to write, sponsor, and support legislation requesting funding for fish disease research on the Klamath River .  Time is of the essence.

9:00 - 9:10       Introductions:  All

9:10 –10:30    Presentation on current disease research, proposed research, proposed    

 budget, and question and answer:

           Jerri Bartholomew/Scott Foott                     

10:30 -11:00    Importance of finding answers to diseases and consequences of no

                          action:

           Statement and question and answer from:

                                   Farm Community

                                   Tribal Community

                                   Fishing Community

11:00 – End   Open forum, question and answer, working lunch:

                        Formulate and finalize formal request for funds and select sponsors/co-sponsors:  All

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Klamath Common Ground Alliance  

Mission

To advocate for practical solutions to common problems facing natural resource businesses, and to ensure perpetual access to, and the health of those natural resources for all generations.

Purpose of the Common Ground Alliance

The founding members believe that open dialogue between natural resources dependent businesses is essential to the future of those businesses. Therefore, the Alliance was formed as a forum to address issues common to its members and industries. The Founders believe in solution-based dialogue and application of common sense peer reviewed science for the benefit of the natural resources upon which we depend.  

Litigation is seen as a failure of dialogue and should be the last resort.  

Goals

Goals will be determined by unanimous consent of the Alliance Board of directors. The initial goals agreed upon by the founding members are to:

a.  Advocate for funding of fish disease control research on the Klamath River .

b.  Advocate for effective common-sense solutions to natural resource allocation conflicts in the Klamath Basin and restoration of salmon runs to support healthy fisheries.

c.  Advocate for a Long Lake conservation water storage project. The water to be dedicated to supply cold, clean water for down-stream main stem Klamath flows.

d.  Advocate for genetically appropriate supplementation of naturally spawning salmon stocks in the Klamath basin.

The General Membership shall be comprised of three groups:

1.          Commercial Fishing

2.          Farming/Ranching

3.          Tribal fishing