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The H&N view
published April 27, 2003
We're finding out how little we know about fish
Distrust sweeping conclusions and policies based on them
How many sucker fish are there in Upper Klamath Lake?
It appears that nobody knows. Once there were more than there are today; if restoration work succeeds, someday there will be more than there are today; and that's about all we know. This is a point made forcefully in a recent essay by William Lewis, chairman of the National Research Council committee that is examining fish science issues in the Basin. "...exact or even approximate sizes of the populations now and in the recent past are unknown," he wrote for the journal "Fisheries."
Downstream of Upper Klamath Lake, there is Lake Ewauna, long thought to be inhospitable to suckers. It is lined with several feet of timber debris. Organic matter, whether wood, sewage or algae, will suck the oxygen right out of a lake. Without oxygen, fish die.
Lo and behold, suckers are living in the lake, at least early in the year - it's still thought that late-summer algae blooms are killers.
A federal scientist in the second year of a three-year study says the fish, having left the upper lake, might be attempting to spawn in the Link River and wonders what's happening to the young fish, if there are any. As they say in scientific literature, more research is needed, and scientists will be looking at not only the lake but also the downstream waters in search of answers.
Farther downstream, the question of the hour will be: What killed the salmon last year in the lower Klamath River? In May a federal judge in Oakland will take up a challenge to the upstream management plan. If the judge finds that the management plan puts coho salmon at risk, irrigators upstream are at risk of another shutdown. This could prove fatal to agricultural balance sheets weakened by the shutdown of 2001.
Last year, the ready answer to the question about salmon deaths was low water flow. California's state government reached a conclusion immediately and has never shown any uncertainty. To defend their position, Basin irrigators plan to introduce evidence from biologist David Vogel.
Under contract to water users, he has gathered air and water temperature data, starting before the salmon kill, that suggests water temperature was a significant factor in the salmon deaths.
This is evidence that should cause political discomfort in California, because it suggests that the averting the fish kill would have required the colder water available from the tributary Trinity River, which supplies water to the influential agricultural region of the Central Valley. At the least, it should cause the California scientists to revisit their work.
Economics and politics are out in front of science in the Klamath River Basin. The listings of the salmon and suckers as endangered are little more than a decade old, but almost certainly there are more surprises ahead as scientific work gathers force. The lesson is one of humility and caution - we know well that we don't know much.
Ready answers and sweeping conclusions about fish in the Klamath River drainage and how to deal with them ought to be suspect, and so should policy and decisions based on ready answers and sweeping conclusions.
• • •
The "H&N view" represents the opinion of the newspaper's editorial board, which consists of Publisher John Walker, Editor Tim Fought, City Editor Todd Kepple and Opinion Editor Pat Bushey. Fought wrote today's editorial.
We're finding out how little we know about fish
Distrust sweeping conclusions and policies based on them
How many sucker fish are there in Upper Klamath Lake?
It appears that nobody knows. Once there were more than there are today; if restoration work succeeds, someday there will be more than there are today; and that's about all we know. This is a point made forcefully in a recent essay by William Lewis, chairman of the National Research Council committee that is examining fish science issues in the Basin. "...exact or even approximate sizes of the populations now and in the recent past are unknown," he wrote for the journal "Fisheries."
Downstream of Upper Klamath Lake, there is Lake Ewauna, long thought to be inhospitable to suckers. It is lined with several feet of timber debris. Organic matter, whether wood, sewage or algae, will suck the oxygen right out of a lake. Without oxygen, fish die.
Lo and behold, suckers are living in the lake, at least early in the year - it's still thought that late-summer algae blooms are killers.
A federal scientist in the second year of a three-year study says the fish, having left the upper lake, might be attempting to spawn in the Link River and wonders what's happening to the young fish, if there are any. As they say in scientific literature, more research is needed, and scientists will be looking at not only the lake but also the downstream waters in search of answers.
Farther downstream, the question of the hour will be: What killed the salmon last year in the lower Klamath River? In May a federal judge in Oakland will take up a challenge to the upstream management plan. If the judge finds that the management plan puts coho salmon at risk, irrigators upstream are at risk of another shutdown. This could prove fatal to agricultural balance sheets weakened by the shutdown of 2001.
Last year, the ready answer to the question about salmon deaths was low water flow. California's state government reached a conclusion immediately and has never shown any uncertainty. To defend their position, Basin irrigators plan to introduce evidence from biologist David Vogel.
Under contract to water users, he has gathered air and water temperature data, starting before the salmon kill, that suggests water temperature was a significant factor in the salmon deaths.
This is evidence that should cause political discomfort in California, because it suggests that the averting the fish kill would have required the colder water available from the tributary Trinity River, which supplies water to the influential agricultural region of the Central Valley. At the least, it should cause the California scientists to revisit their work.
Economics and politics are out in front of science in the Klamath River Basin. The listings of the salmon and suckers as endangered are little more than a decade old, but almost certainly there are more surprises ahead as scientific work gathers force. The lesson is one of humility and caution - we know well that we don't know much.
Ready answers and sweeping conclusions about fish in the Klamath River drainage and how to deal with them ought to be suspect, and so should policy and decisions based on ready answers and sweeping conclusions.
• • •
The "H&N view" represents the opinion of the newspaper's editorial board, which consists of Publisher John Walker, Editor Tim Fought, City Editor Todd Kepple and Opinion Editor Pat Bushey. Fought wrote today's editorial.
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