ABC NEWS 7 - KRCR Asks About Testing Klamath River - What Killed 850,000 Chinook Salmon Released In Klamath River?

California Department of Fish and Wildlife has offered a ‘gas bubble disease’ explanation for the death of 850,000 Chinook Salmon fry that were released into Fall Creek on or about February 26, 2024.

Unfortunately for those doomed salmon, Fall Creek empties into the old sediment laden lake bottom of Iron Gate lake and the Klamath River, which is carving its way through some of the tens of millions of cubic yards of toxic clay-mud sediments.

These lake bottom sediments seem to be highly under-surveyed in sediment sampling studies. And since toxins, especially heavy metals will settle-out of the confluent of the Klamath River when they hit a settling pond, or in this case, a lake that acts in the same manner, these heavy metals will end up in the deepest layers of the sediments as a result of their specific gravity…. I.E. the heaviest materials penetrate and reside in the deepest sediment layers.

Because of this settling-out of toxins into the deepest layers of the decades-old sediments, proper sediment testing requires core samples down to the historic base of the sediment column, according to William Simpson, who has offered an alternative theory as to why all the salmon are dead in this article:

850,000 Klamath River Salmon Died From Gas Bubble Disease? Maybe

When KRCR reporter Sophia Bruinsma asked the California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, Jordan Traverso about the water conditions at the time the salmon were released, she stated that the river water conditions were tested and were great. But when Traverso was asked where exactly tests were made, she said she didn’t know, and would have to get back to her with an answer.

Hmmm, sounds familiar? That’s a famous line in Siskiyou County because residents and County officials have heard it on many occasions from the mouth of the CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), Mark Bransom.

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