ENVIRONMENT REPORT - October 25, 2002: Chinook Salmon Deaths
By Cynthia Kirk
This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT.
American officials say at least twenty-thousand chinook salmon and other fish have died recently in the Klamath
River in Northern California. Scientists are not sure what caused the die-off. But environmental groups say the
Bush administration’s plan to redirect the flow of the river to provide water for crops may have caused water
levels to drop too low.
The Klamath River starts at Upper Klamath Lake in southern Oregon and flows into Northern California. Then
river flows west into the Pacific Ocean. Water management of the Klamath River has been a major dispute
between farmers on one side and fishermen, environmental groups and several Native American tribes on the
other side.
Six months ago, the Bush administration approved a plan to provide large amounts of water to farmers near the
Klamath River for irrigation. Farmers depend on water from the upper Klamath Lake to irrigate more than
eighty-thousand hectares of land. Administration officials said the plan would satisfy farmers and honor
environmental laws. But opponents of the plan said it would severely harm the river and its fish.
Several fishing groups and others have taken legal action against the federal government. They said the Bush
administration gave too much water to farmers for irrigation at the risk of thousands of salmon. Some of the
salmon, such as coho, are protected under the Endangered Species Act. However, chinook salmon do not have
federal protection. Chinook were the main victims of the recent fish kill.
Scientists disagree about what caused to the fish to die. Tests showed that most of the fish died of lack of oxygen
due to infections that damaged their gills. Scientists say the organisms that caused the infection are common in
the river. But rarely have the organisms led to so many deaths.
Some scientists say warm and dry weather last month and low water flows in the Klamath River could be major
reasons for the deaths. They say the river is too low for fish to move upstream to mate. They say the fish are
dying of disease because they are crowded into small areas of water.
Biologists have called for more water to be released into the river for at least six months. But so far, federal
officials have agreed only to two weeks of additional water flows.
This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by Cynthia Kirk.
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