Fish Kill?

[6 point]

Anyone hear ofa fish kill :depressed: by the odfw @ there fish ladder @ Willamette Falls......I heard from 100 to 300 fish, (salmon, Steelhead ect* :mad: )How bout Bill Monroe,, doesnt he investage this stuff? Nothin on the news!

[Get Bent]

He only investigates when he hears about it, I'm sure. Now that there's been mention he might get to check it out. I believe that he mentioned that he'd be fishing the next couple of days so if he doesn't get right on it then you'll know why.

[STGRule]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Contact: Kathy Shinn (503) 657-2000 x285 or Craig Foster (503) 657-2000 x248
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us (http://www.dfw.state.or.us) Fax: (503) 657-2050

For Immediate Release August 22, 2002

Willamette Falls Fish Ladder Repair Results in Fish Loss

CLACKAMAS - About 50 summer steelhead, six chinook salmon and 300 Pacific lamprey died over a two-day period this week during de-watering of the Willamette Falls fish ladder at Oregon City to allow needed repairs, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported today.

ODFW drained the fish ladder of all water to repair leaking joints and ensure the structural integrity of the facility. The maintenance work was required to maintain passage of fish into the upper Willamette River basin and avoid a complete passage failure.

ODFW takes precautions to minimize fish losses by scheduling repairs when fish numbers are at their lowest levels and endangered species are least likely to be present. In spite of ODFW's best efforts, circumstances this year resulted in unavoidable mortalities, said Craig Foster, fish biologist with ODFW in Clackamas.

"Normally we don't see this many fish in August, but with the exceptionally large run of 32,000 hatchery summer steelhead, there were more fish around," said Foster. "We've passed 83,000 spring chinook over the falls and the fall chinook run is just beginning. In addition, high water temperatures tend to stress fish and increase the chance for mortalities."

During gradual water drawdown procedures Monday, several thousand lamprey and several hundred salmon and steelhead moved out of the fish ladder on their own. ODFW personnel and contractors also removed another several hundred lamprey remaining on portions of the ladder and released them into the river. One section where some lamprey remained was expected to hold water overnight, but by Tuesday morning water levels had dropped faster than expected and about 300 lamprey died out of about 600 lamprey present. The remaining lamprey were released into the river.

None of the affected fish are listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Water flow is expected to resume along with fish passage early next week after maintenance activities are complete. The repair project on the fish ladder is unrelated to repair work and efforts to release stranded fish from a hole at the base of the falls that occurred earlier this month.

###

[Sturgeon 42]

You Rule STG..... :grin: :grin: :grin:

[Killertraylor]

Now that's amazing - within 50 minutes of your initial post you had the answer - and an official answer at that! Do Pacific Lamprays bite? Sounds like there's a lot of them in the river and I'd like to freak out my buddies who waterski in the Willamette and Mult. Channel....

[Get Bent]

The lampreys don't bite as far as I know as they are more of a sucker-type eel, but they can be murder on a pump. Suck one of those babies in and it'll shut ya right down.

There's even a commercial fishery for them as bait. Dudes get into the falls with dipnets and catch them.

[6 point]

Hmmmmmmm what are they coveing up,heard froma worker ther was dorcel fin's... an alot more salmon than that report.....wonder whyyyy they didnt take percautions, draining a fish ladder seems like a no brainer that ther would be fish ther. If this happen to anyone else it would be jail time!

[Phish_on]

ODFW staff picnic August 23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
no not really!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

seems like you could screen off the entryway and wait a day.

I've never seen the fish ladder down there, it's pretty DANG OLD isn't it?

[Get Bent]

Sure is. The newer ones are escalators. :wink:

[hawgcatcher]

The fish ladder is way at the back of the falls and has been there for a long time. During the period of low water, the mills place boards along the top of the falls creating a flow threw the mills and through the fish ladders. Without the ladders, the fish get caught in the various pools created by the falls and in the areas where the water flow comes out of the mills.

The Lamprey also follow these flows. They are ugly but can be pretty good smoked. Indians used to come up and net them in the holes in the falls, where they were trapped. Several of the Jewish restaurants sent people out to catch them too.

These ladders have to be worked on when water conditions are right. It would be pretty hard to work on them when the water is coming over the falls. A loss is bad, but could you imagine if work had happened when the run was at it's peak. graemlins/program.gif