In this article from today’s Bee we see another, (like the long term flooding of Discovery Park) serious and costly problem connected to the lack of a dam on the American River to control the storm and snow run-off when needed.
The tragic loss of millions of salmon is a distinct possibility and it is a tragedy that a dam could eventually stop from reoccurring.
Here is an excerpt.
Deadly diseases strike Nimbus salmon
High river flows are tied to illnesses that have killed a fifth of chinook.
By Edie Lau -- Bee Science Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Juvenile salmon at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery are dying at a rate of 60,000 fish per day from a combination of diseases spawned at least in part by the massive spring runoff.
The state-owned hatchery has lost 1 million out of 5.1 million chinook in the past month.
State Department of Fish and Game officials said there's not much they can do to stop the deaths.
"This is going to have to run its course," said hatchery manager Terrance West, who has been working round-the-clock removing dead fry and fingerlings from the runs.
Department pathologists attribute the illnesses directly and indirectly to the extremely high flows on the American River.
At Nimbus Dam, normal water release this time of year is at a rate of 2,700 cubic feet per second. Monday that rate was 11,132 cfs -- as low as it's been in three or four weeks.
That cascade of snowmelt forces an unhealthy amount of air into the river, a phenomenon common below dams known as supersaturation. Fish in supersaturated water develop "gas bubble disease," like divers suffering from the bends.
Atmospheric gases forced into the water under pressure become liquid. As pressure eases, the gases come out of solution and form bubbles. Inside a fish, the gas makes bubbles in the blood.
"We can see the air bubbles in the gills and in the bases of the fins," said Mark Adkison, a state associate fish pathologist. "If you can see bubbles (outside), you know there's a lot of bubbles in the fish."
Gas bubble disease can kill fish outright or cause stress that enables other pathogens to take hold. At Nimbus, two other problems have cropped up: coldwater disease, caused by a bacterium; and infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN), caused by a virus.
