“There’s not a lot known about how this moves through the environment”, said Dan Garren of Idaho Fish and Game who dealt with a 2012 whitefish die-off blamed on the parasite.
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“This kill is unprecedented in its magnitude”, said Jones.
“The Yellowstone River and this world-class fishery must be protected for tomorrow and the years to come”, said Sam Sheppard, FWP’s regional supervisor for southwestern Montana, at a press conference Friday morning. The closure is aimed at limiting the spread of the parasite to adjacent bodies of water through boats, waders, tubes and other human contacts as well as to minimize further damage to fish populations.
“What criteria are they going to use to open?” “I think that is going to be the hard part”. “We have to wait for the environmental conditions to improve and for the fish kills to stop”.
No dead fish have been found inside Yellowstone National Park, where the 100th anniversary celebration is expected to kick off next week. So far that hasn’t happened.
As Damico sought more information, though, he said he was getting conflicting reports from agency officials. Biologists with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said they’ve counted more than 2,000 dead mountain whitefish, and the estimate the total mortality in the tens of thousands. Unfortunately, there are signs the parasite is also beginning to kill off Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout and Rainbow Trout, as well.
“To my knowledge, [in] southwest Montana, we haven’t had a closure to this extent on a river … and to my knowledge, we’ve never closed all water-based recreation”, said Travis Horton, FWP’s region 3 fisheries manager, at the press conference.
“It will affect us”, Brown said.
The closure is needed to stop the spread of the parasite that causes proliferative kidney disease and to protect the fishery and the outdoor economy it sustains, said Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials.
The parasite has been seen in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Canada and Europe. It has been documented previously in only two isolated locations in Montana over the past 20 years. The parasite does not pose a risk to humans, but it is important to nip the outbreak in the bud. But because some of the fish have probably sunk to the bottom or have been eaten by scavengers, Jones said it was safe to assume there are many, many more.
OC Register reports that it’s not just mountain whitefish that have been affected.
“So it’s out there”, he said.
“Frankly, we don’t know if it’s native or not”.
The closure, implemented by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, is in response to the ongoing fish kill in the river. “However, we must act to protect this public resource for present and future generations”, said Hagener. It was reported to the department on Thursday by outfitters and guides in the area, and FWP had staff float three separate sections of the river to confirm and determine the scope of the kill. “We must be guided by science”.
“It’s very unprecedented”, he said.
The public is requested to clean all equipment before moving it from one body of water to another.
The wildlife agency set up two decontamination stations to try to reduce the chance of equipment spreading the parasite to other rivers.
Those who violate the river closures will at first be educated.
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Chris Fleck of Stillwater Anglers does a routine wash on his boat in Columbus before a weekend trip to the Bighorn River on Friday. The flow is a big issue in Bailey’s opinion because he says typically the Yellowstone’s flow doesn’t pick up again until springtime. News seems to have spread quickly about the river’s closure to all recreation.
