"Our abundant and varied (Klamath) fisheries appear to contradict the need for massive aquatic restoration projects"

The Klamath Falls Herald and news published an extensive article on trout fishing in the Upper Klamath Basin in its August 4^th Sunday edition. The article presented quite a contrast to the paper’s previous litany of articles regarding threatened and endangered fish species in our watershed.

It seems that every week, we hear and read another recital, of how the foul and polluted waters of Upper Klamath Lake, and its tributaries, are destroying native fish populations. They allege that development created by European man is the cause. A constant outpouring of articles reiterate the critical need to restore the rivers to pre-development conditions as a prerequisite to saving the native fish.

The newspaper’s Sunday article belied those allegations.

One knowledgeable fisherman, who is a lifelong resident of Klamath County, was quoted as saying: “The Upper Basin is one of the premier fishing locations in the entire world, especially the country, in terms of fish, size of fish, and wildness of fish as opposed to hatchery.” He went on to point out that he believes “the people of the Klamath Basin have a shallow appreciation for just how unique, and how special this is, compared to other places in the country.” The fisherman appears to concentrate his activities on the Williamson, Sprague and Wood rivers, each a tributary to Upper Klamath Lake.

Another lifelong fisherman, who said that when he retired he moved to Klamath County to access our fishing opportunities, was quoted as saying: “The Lake is great for bait fishing and trolling. Klamath Lake has some of the biggest trout in the world.” He went on to explain that in the Klamath Basin, hitting any one of many lakes, rivers and streams can easily land a fish more than two feet long. He pointed out that in many other parts of the nation, people pay as much as three to four hundred dollars a day, to fish for trout “half that size”.

Trout, perch, bass, crappie and other fish species thrive in our waters because the waters are rich in nutrients. Each species appears to have acclimated to the eutrophic water conditions. Each species is able to sustain a thriving population by seeking seasonal refuge in appropriate water.

The native Red Band Trout is unique to the Upper Klamath Basin. Fishermen travel from all over the world, for the opportunity to hook one of these monster trout.

The species has sustained its abundant reproduction well enough to minimize the need for hatchery production even though it has been heavily fished for decades. Its rate of growth is phenomenal among fish species because it has acclimated to the nutrient-rich waters that have provided its habitat for millennia. The Red Band also seeks seasonal refuge in the cooler deeper portions of the Lake, in the straights and in the rivers tributary to the Lake.

          Our abundant and varied fisheries appear to contradict the need for massive aquatic restoration projects. Some of the many questions that beg answers are:

• ·       How does this cold water trout species reproduce and thrive in such allegedly polluted and inhospitable waters?
• ·       Why are the warm-water, bottom feeding suckers, living in the same nutrient-rich habitat, considered to be endangered?
• ·       When will the fish biologists provide a reasonable estimate of the number of adult Short Nosed and Lost River Suckers inhabiting Upper Klamath Lake and its tributaries?
• ·       What has been learned from the hundreds of millions of dollars already spent on studies and restoration efforts on streams tributary to Upper Klamath Lake?
• ·       Why have these enormous outlays of taxpayer dollars not measurably improved water quality?
• ·       What is the real purpose, of spending hundreds of millions of additional dollars on further efforts to restore the rivers and stream when these cold-water trout species are doing well enough to bring fisherman, from all over the world?
• ·       Could it be possible that their eutrophic water habitat has little to do with the endangered status of the sucker species?
• ·       Isn’t it more likely that predation by birds such as cormorants, terns and mergansers are the more important cause of the loss of sucker population?
• ·       Isn’t it more likely that predation by other introduced fish species are the more important cause of the alleged decline of the suckers?
• ·       Isn’t it also more likely that the many known parasites of juvenile suckers are the more important cause of their decline?

Doug