Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams praised the scientists who prepared the report, which took more than a year to complete and was the subject of a rigorous internal peer review.

“Our team of scientists conducted an exhaustive, multi-faceted study of this loss of Klamath River fish,” Williams said. “Its findings, which are based on the best available scientific data, are consistent with those of the recent National Research Council report. Both reports conclude that the river’s troubles are due to a multitude of factors, and improving the river will require a watershed effort by Federal and State agencies, the Tribes, and other stakeholders.” 

The die-off, which occurred from late September to early October 2002, was the largest loss of pre-spawning adult salmon ever recorded in the Klamath River and one of the largest on the West Coast. The river originates in Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake, flowing more than 250 miles through southern Oregon and northern California before entering the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the dead fish – about 97 percent – were fall-run Chinook salmon. About 2 percent were steelhead and 1 percent were coho salmon. The lost fall-run Chinooks represented about 19 percent of the total run of nearly 170,000 fish in the Klamath River and its largest tributary, the Trinity River. A related Fish and Wildlife Service report, which provides an estimate of the total number of fish lost at just over 34,000, is also being released today.

Both reports can be viewed or downloaded at the Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office’s Web site at http://sacramento.fws.gov/

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