Yellowstone River Closed Due to Fish-Killing Parasite
On Friday, August 19, Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced the closure of 183 miles of the Yellowstone River to all recreational use. The reason for the closure was the discovery of over 2,000 dead mountain whitefish and reports of dead rainbow trout and cutthroat trout.
The cause of the fish die-off appears to have been proliferative kidney disease (PKD), which is caused by a parasite known as Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae. In the past, this organism has caused outbreaks of disease and fish death amongst salmonids in various hatcheries and freshwater in the Pacific Northwest. It seems to be most hazardous to fish when water temperatures reach and stay above 54 degrees F. The Yellowstone River has been low and warm this year. There are no antibiotics to treat the infection.The Yellowstone River was closed to prevent transmission of the infectious agent to other waters.
We want to bring this to everyone’s attention as a reminder that if you travel to different bodies of water to fish, please be sure to clean wading boots, waders, fish nets and boats prior to moving to the next body of water. There has been a fair amount of controversy and disagreement as to what adequate cleaning consists of. We are providing a link to the most recent, and arguably most logical, guidance on the cleaning of fishing equipment. The instructions are relatively easy to follow and don’t include any measures that shorten the life of your gear (bleach, heat, etc.).The instructions can be found at this link:http://www.stopans.org/Cleaning/Tips_Careful_Cleaning.pdfPlease help us keep the lower Deschutes River and all bodies of water free of invasive species!
Deschutes River Alliance: Cooler, cleaner H2O for the lower Deschutes River. Click here to Donate.Click here to sign up for the Deschutes River Alliance email newsletter.---