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This story was originally appeared in High Country News and Climate Table collaboration.
The video shows the clean water of the river washing over the rocks while the sunlight dances in the depths. Leaf-shaped white fragments float on the surface. But they are not leaves; they are the bodies of young salmon, most of which are not more than one finger, dead as a result of a warm water disease aggravated by drought in the Klamath River. The basis of the video shot by Frankie Joe Myers, vice president of Yurok, is overwhelming: “This is when we don’t act out climate change.”
The fish are on the verge of extinction in Klamath around May 4, according to the Yuro Tribal Fisheries Department. At the time, 97 percent of young salmon caught by the department’s catch devices were infected Ceratonova shasta parasite, and were either dead or would die within days. Within two weeks, 70% of the young salmon caught in the trap were dead.
This spring, the Klamath Basin is already experiencing a tremendous and extraordinary drought – one of the worst drought years in four decades. Irrigators who killed fish were told in mid-May that they would not receive water for the first time since the Klamath project’s “A” channel began in 1907. Irrigators have said they need 400,000 acres of water, but this year they will only receive 33,000 acres from the Klamath Project – a historic low. The situation has put pressure on the already crisis-stricken region trapped in a turbulent region. “For salmon, killing young fish is the worst case scenario,” Myers said in a statement.
In a document on this year’s drought, Ty Kliewer, president of the Klamath Irrigation District, said, “That couldn’t be worse. The impact on our family farms and in these rural communities will not be on scale.”
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Last summer was also dry, and farmers and their supporters had a convoy tractor to protest the lack of water and the decision to allocate the Rehabilitation Office. Meanwhile, the Yuro Tribe Boat Dance event was canceled last August due to low flows and, after a dry winter, heated disputes over water allocation continue. This week, some irrigators set up camp The main gates of the Klamath Project had to be opened by irrigators in past droughts. “This drought is not a common occurrence,” said Amur Cordalis Yuro, a citizen and tribal adviser, in a hearing on the drought in the West this week. “It’s part of a larger drought model caused by climate change. Climate change is no longer a vague threat to the future; now we are seeing its effects happening in real time. “
Wet years were common and dry years were not common, but that has changed in recent years, especially since 2014, said Barry McCovey Jr. Yurok, director of the Department of Fisheries and Yurok citizen, has been studying fish diseases at Klamath for 20 years. . This year’s drought is part of a new climate regime that is changing the basin. “Good years when there is a lot of water to meet all the needs of the basin are rare now,” McCovey said.
With forecasts so dire at the start of the year, communities are already asking for help. A first round of drought allocated $ 15 million for irrigators and $ 3 million for tribes in the Klamath Basin, although the tribes — along with commercial fishermen and nonprofits — have asked for $ 250 million in aid. At a virtual forum with congressional representatives in May, Ben DuVal, chairman of the board of directors of the Klamath Water Users Association, called for an agreement to bring “long-term stability” to the basin. “It can be done; it has been done elsewhere, “he said. Such agreements have been tried in the past with varying degrees of success, although one of the latest major efforts, the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, was never made through Congress.
Such large-scale agreements require a great deal of federal involvement. Home Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) has expressed interest in Klamath issues, but has yet to speak on the deal. In April, acknowledging the impact of climate change and the harsh summer ahead, Trump rejected some notes and assessments from the administration that were given without tribal consultation and did not reflect the current administration’s goals. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) called on Haalandi to be named “Tsar Klamath” – “a high-ranking agent who can make quick and important decisions.” While the removal of four dams in Klamath is planned, it is awaiting approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The ongoing killings of fish are reminiscent of the traumatic killings of 2002, when 60,000 adult salmon by fall were killed by Chinook disease due to low water in Klamath. The optics of that year were much more dramatic — fish bodies were everywhere, piled up on the banks of the river, floating down the river — but the massive deaths of minors mean they will never reach the ocean and will never have a chance. to lay their eggs. Considering the life cycle of salmon, it also guarantees that salmon will be huge in a few years from now. “Everyone will continue to suffer if we don’t come up with a plan that goes forward,” McCovey said. “And we don’t have much time left.”
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