[env-trinity] Kokanee Salmon Die-off in Trinity and Lewiston Lakes
Kelli Gant
kgant at tds.net
Tue Sep 2 09:47:09 PDT 2014
There is always another side to every story. Just because there is a
dam, the entire length of water is still ALL Trinity River. Coffee Creek
and all other pre-dam streams remain listed as a tributary to the
Trinity River.
Drought impacting salmon in Trinity Lake
KRCR News Report video:
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/drought-impacting-salmon-in-trinity-lake/27765616
Kokanee Salmon Die-off Prompts Questions; No Official Explanation
**ByBill Siemer <http://anewscafe.com/author/bill-siemer/>**August 31, 2014
Thousands of dead and dying Kokanee salmon were floating on the upper
end of Lewiston Lake this week after increased flows were initiated to
save this fall’s run of adult Chinook salmon in the lower Klamath River.
<http://anewscafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dead-fish-another-view.jpg>
Thousands of dead Kokanee salmon float on Lewiston Lake. Photo by Bill
Siemer.
The dead Kokanee fingerlings, floating belly side up, were killed by the
rapid change in pressure which occurred when they were sucked into
Trinity Dam’s intake shafts when water was released downstream into
Lewiston Lake, according to a knowledgeable source who asked not to be
named.
The four-to-six inch Kokanee were washing up on the Lewiston Lake shore
for a quarter of a mile on Tuesday evening when this reporter kayaked
by. Early estimates, given to the Trinity Journal, had the losses
between 200 to 400. The source estimated the die-off at 2,000. However,
dead fingerlings were scattered on the Lake’s bottom and caught in the
marshy grasses. Eagles, buzzards and crows dined from the shore. It was
a smelly mess.
<http://anewscafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dead-fish-food-for-vultures.jpg>
Vultures and other creatures feast on the dead fish at Lewiston Lake.
Photo by Bill Siemer.
Kokanee need cold water to survive and the land-locked Kokanee are
forced deeper into Trinity Lake as the water is released downstream. The
Lake dropped 5.84 feet during the week ending August 25, according to
the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, which made the decision to increase the
flows last week.
The Bureau’s website reported that releases from Lewiston Dam began at 7
a.m. on August 23.
Initially, the release was raised from 450 cubic feet per second (cfs)
to 950 cfs. At 7 a.m. on August 25, releases from Lewiston Dam were
increased to 2,450 cfs for a period of 24 hours, then dropped to 950
cfs. The goal, according to the Bureau, is to keep the lower Klamath at
approximately 2,500 cfs until September 14.
Trinity Lake’s depth, as of August 25, was 316.27 feet, according to the
Bureau’s website, with the Lake being 29 percent full. As of the end of
that week, the average release to Whiskeytown and the Carr Powerhouse,
was 2,119 cfs, while the Trinity River release averaged 1,650 cfs.
The Bureau’s decision to increase the flow of water for the lower
Klamath salmon was met immediately by lawsuits from several water
districts in the Sacramento Valley. A federal judge denied their request.
<http://anewscafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dead-floating-fish.jpg>
Thousands of dead fish litter Lewiston Lake in Trinity County. Photo by
Bill Siemer.
Calls to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Redding, and
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, seeking answers to questions regarding
how many Kokanee are actually dying and whether the die-off is expected
to have an impact on the Kokanee fishery, were not returned.
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