Nearly 1 Million Salmon Killed on Klamath River as Dam Removal Continues

Chinook salmon swim up a fish ladder at the Feather River Hatchery just below the Lake Oroville dam in Oroville, Calif., on May 27, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)

About 830,000 Chinook salmon died in the Klamath River after the California Department of Fish and Wildlife released them above Iron Gate Dam, the agency reported March 2.

The department released the newly hatched salmon fry Feb. 26 from its new $35 million hatchery on Fall Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River in Siskiyou County in Northern California.

Salmon fry swim to the surface after they emerge from the gravel and fill up their swim bladders with oxygen before starting to feed, according to the National Park Service. The state’s fish and wildlife department said the salmon fry died from “gas bubble disease,” which happens from environmental or physical trauma associated with pressure change.

Local residents became concerned about the water quality in the Klamath River in January after the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the company that owns four dams on the river, began to slowly drain one of them. As a result, the 100-year-old Copco Lake near the Oregon border disappeared, washing down the Klamath.

As the lake drained in January, the Klamath River also turned black as silt and muck washed into it, killing several fish. Some deer were also killed after getting stuck in the muck left behind at the bottom of the lake.

The dam removal project is a key part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s strategy to save the state’s salmon after decades of pressure from the Yurok Tribe in Northern California.

The Klamath River Renewal Corporation, a nonprofit created to oversee the dam removal project, told The Epoch Times it expected more wildlife to be affected during the dam removal process this year.

The salmon fry disaster, however, was not a result of water quality conditions, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a news release.

“There is no indication the mortality is associated with other Klamath River water quality conditions such as turbidity and dissolved oxygen, which were reading at suitable levels on Feb. 26 and the days prior to release,” the department reported.

Scientists determined the mortality was the result of gas bubble disease, according to a spokesman at the department.

“There were visual signs of [gas bubble disease] in the fish collected in the rotary trap,” said spokeswoman Jordan Traverso.

Rotary traps are used to catch young Chinook salmon to be examined by scientists.

The juvenile salmon were likely killed as they migrated through the Iron Gate Dam tunnel, which is old infrastructure targeted for removal, along with the Iron Gate Dam, later this year. This was the first attempt to release the young salmon at the tunnel, Ms. Traverso said.

“The problems associated with the Iron Gate Dam tunnel are temporary and yet another sad reminder of how the Klamath River dams have harmed salmon runs for generations,” the department said in the news release.

In the future, the state plans to release all salmon below the Iron Gate Dam until the structure is removed.

The state’s Fall Creek Fish Hatchery still has about 3.27 million healthy, fall-run Chinook salmon, which are planned for releases later this month.

The hatchery’s goal is to raise and release 3.25 million salmon in various stages of life this year.

The remaining salmon at the facility exceed this goal and will help offset the losses from the Feb. 26 release, according to the department.