FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2003CONTACTS: Allen Foreman, Tribal Chairman, 541-783-2219
Bud Ullman, Tribes’ water attorney, 541-783-3081
Doug Barber, The Ulum Group, 541-434-7023Klamath Tribes Address Status of Klamath Suckers
“We know the Klamath suckers are still in serious trouble,” says Allen Foreman, Chairman of the Klamath Tribes. “Some people will raise the false hope that the fish are recovering without essential habitat and water quality improvements. Such a miracle would be welcome, but it’s just not going to happen, and Judge Jones did not say it’s happening.”
On September 4, 2003, federal district court judge Robert Jones published his opinion requiring the Fish & Wildlife Service to reconsider a petition to de-list, under the Endangered Species Act, two species of fish known to the Klamath Tribes a c’wam and qapdo, and to non-Indians as suckers.
“The decision is purely on a procedural point under the ESA, and it does not change the fact that the fish are on the edge of extinction,” said Foreman.
Jones’ opinion instructs the Service to either reconsider its decision not to grant the petition to de-list the fish, or to proceed with formal de-listing processes. “In either event,” Foreman said, “the protections provided by the Endangered Species Act are necessary and must continue. That is the law and that is what is necessary to avoid extinction of this important resource.
When I was a boy, you could see suckers by the thousands swimming upriver to spawn. The fish used to be so abundant that the Tribes harvested thousands of pounds without diminishing the runs. Now, most young tribal members have never seen c’wam or qapdo in the wild. They see only the two fish we take for ceremonial purposes each year. This is another example of the need for a better management process for Klamath Basin resources. Continuing confusion over the need for protection and the extent of protection is doing nobody any good.”
The Klamath Tribes’ sucker fishery has been closed for 17 years. The Tribes closed their fishery in 1986 because of dramatic population declines. The fish were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1988. Pollution from agricultural run-off of Upper Klamath Lake and its tributaries, along with agricultural withdrawals from the lake and streams, contributed to the decline.