Group criticizes the fish release of ODFW in unsuitable beaver -lough waters

Coos County, Ore. – The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) published 37,600 Chinook Ssmolts in Beaver Sloug and, according to ODFW reports from the Coquille Watershed Association, the area has had toxic water conditions for years.

According to a fish biologist from Oregon inland Randy Brummet, fish need oxygen to survive, and without the right oxygen content in the water fish can die within a few minutes.

Lovers oxygen (DO) is oxygen that has been dissolved in water that is easily absorbed by the fish cows, and is measured by a DO measuring device, an electronic device that measures solved oxygen in milligrams per liter.

4mg of a throw and below is fatal, while 7 mg is a throw and above is healthy.

“4 They roll almost immediately and 5 is right on the edge, 6 or 7 The fish will be fine,” said Brummet.

The reports that ODFW has created include a diagram that shows with poisonous DO values ​​in Beaver Slouth with the values ​​below 3 mg of garbage.

According to the common graphic Coquille Water Shed Association and ODFW, the do values ​​were toxic every year from July to October in the Beaver Slouth.

The salmon trout improvement program (STEP) is a non -profit organization that works with ODFW and voluntarily works for the management of the salmon fish breeder.

According to the step member Dana Mills, Step was not called when ODFW released the smolts and they do not understand why they choose Biber -Slough, who knows that it was habitable for fish.

“It is disgusting with all the hours that we invest in volunteer time and volunteer money, and it is only wasted,” he said, “3 or 4 other locations were viable,” said Mills.

Mills said that Step had locations such as Lavererne Park in Coquille and Ferry Creek in Bandon so that the smolts were released, and it never happened.

ODFW rejected an interview, but published the following explanation:

In mid-September, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife released about 37,000 autumn chinook molts at a location in Beaver Slough and were discovered by dead fish within a few days. At that time, the agency initiated a comprehensive investigation and completed last week.

The agency assumes full responsibility for the incident. The investigation showed that human errors contributed to the loss, in particular to a failure, to collect sufficient and reliable data before the suitability of the location for the survival of the fish was determined.

In response to the results of the investigation, the agency will take correction measures in order to remedy and implement protocols in order to identify and implement protocols in order to identify locations for fish exemptions, requirements before/after monitoring and other procedures to prevent this type of loss in the future.