2002_Klamath_River_fish_kill
2002 Klamath River fish kill
2002 disaster in the United States
The 2002 Klamath River fish kill occurred on the Klamath River in California in September 2002. According to the official estimate of mortality, about 34,000 fish died. Though some counts may estimate over 70,000 adult chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) were killed when returning to the river to spawn,[1] making it the largest salmon kill in the history of the Western United States. Besides the chinook salmon, other fish that perished include: steelhead (O. mykiss), coho salmon (O. kisutch), sculpins (Cottus spp.), speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus), and Klamath smallscale sucker (Catostomus rimiculus).[2]
A report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the kill resulted from water diversions to Klamath Basin by farmers and ranchers during a drought year.[3] The report found that the atypical low flow in the river along with high fish return numbers and high water temperatures allowed for a gill rot disease to kill at least 33,000 salmon in September 2002, before they could reproduce. The die-off was downstream of the Trinity inflow, and the salmon of the Trinity were impacted to a greater degree than the Klamath as the Trinity run was at its peak. The report does mention that the official fish die-off estimate of 34,056 is probably quite low and could be only half of the actual loss. Klamath River flows as measured at the river gauge in Keno show a low flow of 800 cubic feet per second (22.7 m3/s) in September 1908 (before irrigation began). During the 2002 fish kill, flows of 475 cubic feet per second (13.5 m3/s) were recorded. During September of the 2001 irrigation shut-off, an average of 688 cubic feet per second (19.5 m3/s) was recorded.[4] These lower water flows were decided on against the suggestions of higher water flows biologists had said would be needed to keep the fish safe from a die off.
In response to a 2007 story in The Washington Post that was critical of United States Vice President Dick Cheney's role in diverting water to farmers and ranchers for political gain,[5] the House Natural Resources Committee began an investigation into his role in instigating the fish kill.[6]
The fish kill played an important role in stirring an effort by local American Indian peoples, in concert with environmentalists and fishers, to remove dams on the Klamath River.[7][8] The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) was carefully negotiated and signed by the tribes, the farmers, and PacifiCorp in 2010, but failed to pass through Congress.[9] On April 6, 2016, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Yurok Tribal Chair Thomas P. O'Rourke Sr., Karuk Tribal Chair Russell "Buster" Attebery, Klamath Tribal Chair Don Gentry, the governors of Oregon and California, and dam owner PacificCorp signed the landmark agreements, which include a new piece of legislation: the Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement.[10] The Yurok tribe released a statement in September 2015 acknowledging their withdrawal of support from the landmark agreements due to its dilution of fishing and water rights that would have been acknowledged under KBRA.[11]