Algae Toxins Found in Yellow Perch on Klamath River Reservoirs

by Dan Bacher
Thursday Apr 10th, 2008 11:03 AM

A new report issued by the Karuk Tribe of California shows that the flesh of yellow perch, a popular game fish found in PacifiCorp’s Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs, is contaminated by the algal toxin microcystin. The report concludes that the public should by warned by health officials to not eat fish from the reservoirs during summer months when algae blooms are most pervasive.

“Microcystin levels in freshwater mussel samples exceeded the allowable seasonal intake level for children by as much as 66 fold,” according to the report. “Toxin levels in yellow perch exceeded the allowable seasonal intake level for children by as much as 10 fold. Acute, or one-time intake levels, were also exceeded for many of the samples.”

The report was released as a broad coalition of Indian Tribes, fishing groups and environmental organizations is engaged in a campaign to remove four of PacifiCorp’s dams on the Klamath River. The dams are owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Corporation. To date, Buffett has refused to meet with dam removal proponents.

 More:

http://urlet.com/blown.lasts

Greg King: Any Klamath dam deal must provide water for fish

By Greg King – Special to The Bee

Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, March 29, 2008
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B7

 Not long ago my neighbor said he’d seen me on TV discussing the Northcoast Environmental Center’s opposition to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. He seemed puzzled.

“I thought you guys wanted dam removal,” he said.

My heart sank. Of course the NEC wants to tear down four dams on the Klamath River. The NEC is an original proponent of dam removal, as we’ve long worked to restore populations of fish and other wildlife along one of America’s greatest rivers.

We want the dams out to open up more than 300 miles of former salmon and steelhead habitat, and to improve the abysmal water quality currently released by the reservoirs behind the dams. But dam removal is only one step, however significant.

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/820197.html

Battle for the Klamath – DVD

A Documentary about the fight for salmon and water rights in the west.

By Steven Johnson

54 mins.

 

The Klamath River, snaking through southern Oregon and northern California through some of the most pristine wilderness remaining in the west, is the focus of an intense battle over fish, water and conflicting ways of life, between upstream farmers and the Bush Administration on one side, and downstream Indian tribes, commercial fishermen and environmentalists on the other.

 

http://www.veriscope.com/Battle_for_the_Klamath

Algae toxin added to Klamath River quality standards

By Dylan Darling
Saturday, March 22, 2008

Tiny toxins produced by bright green algae along the Klamath River in Siskiyou County have been added by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to a list of factors to be considered while forming new water quality standards for the river.

The Iron Gate Dam is one of a string of four power dams on the river owned by Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCorp. While the company is attempting to win a new 50-year federal license to continue operating the dams, environmentalists, as well as farmers above the dams and fisherman below them, have called for their removal.

And the algae is another reason to remove them, environmentalists say.

“They are the things that create skin rashes,” said Peter Kozelka, a scientist in the EPA’s San Francisco office.

The toxins also can cause liver problems and tumors.

http://www.redding.com/news/2008/mar/22/algae-toxin-added/