Recreational Miners Threaten Struggling Fisheries in California

By S. Craig Tucker
Klamath Coordinator
Karuk Tribe

The Karuk Tribe along with allies in the commercial and recreational fishing communities are calling on Governor Schwarzenegger to restrict the controversial gold mining technique known as suction dredge mining. As we are in the midst of the worst fisheries collapse in California history all groups impacting our fisheries must be called on to make sacrifices.

According to Brian Stranko, CEO of California Trout, “In April, the state and federal government took unprecedented emergency actions to completely close California’s coast to recreational and commercial salmon fishing, something that is causing severe economic harm to businesses and communities. This is why it is inappropriate and unacceptable for state government to allow recreational suction dredge mining operations to continue to harm fish, particularly endangered species like coho salmon.”

Suction dredges are powered by gas or diesel engines that are mounted on floating pontoons in the river. Attached to the engine is a powerful vacuum hose which the dredger uses to suction up the gravel and sand (sediment) from the bottom of the river. The stream bed passes through a sluice box where heavier gold particles can settle into a series of riffles. The rest of the gravel and potentially toxic sediment is simply dumped back into the river. Depending on size, location and density of these machines they can turn a clear running mountain stream or river segment into a murky watercourse unfit for swimming.

Dredging disturbs spawning gravels and kills salmon eggs and immature lamprey that reside in the gravel for up to seven years before maturing. In a system like the Klamath where salmon can be stressed due to poor water quality, having a dredge running in the middle of the stream affects fish’s ability to reach their spawning grounds.

It is important to note that there is a lot of mercury settled on the bottom of these rivers from gold smelting operations from the 1800’s. Dredging reintroduces mercury to the stream creating a toxic hazard for fish and people. The call for a moratorium on dredging would not prevent miners from mining their claims with other less destructive techniques such as panning and metal detection.

Given the severity of the fisheries crisis, we hope that the Governor will agree to a provision added by the Legislature to the 2008 Budget Bill that would establish a temporary moratorium on suction dredge mining in areas that represent the most important habitat for salmon and trout while the Department of Fish and Game revises (DFG) its regulations in compliance with a 2006 court order.

Comments

Get Email Updates

Want the California Progress Report by email? Once a week, we'll send you the latest and greatest headlines.