Idaho State Department of Agriculture ends Quagga treatment phase
The copper levels were dissipating as the department had anticipated. ISDA will continue to monitor the river in the treatment areas in the weeks ahead.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —The Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) finished the Quagga treatment Friday, and if you saw the river, you might’ve noticed the color of it changing over the past two weeks.
Natrix, the copper-based product used during the treatment was a bright blue color. The product caused algae and aquatic plant mortality, as expected, which changed the color once again; however product has not been found outside the 16-mile treatment area as of Friday.
The copper levels were dissipating as the department had anticipated and the ISDA will continue to monitor the river in the treatment areas and down river in the weeks ahead.
Also monitoring the river is the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, they have been a support agency to the ISDA during the entire process and actively assessing fish mortality since the beginning of the treatment phase. The department reminds the public that the fish are not being poisoned and they have a plan going forward.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks says, “First thing is once things are at the point where ISDA and all the different entities feel comfortable opening the river again we want to reopen it to hunting, fishing, and trapping so that’s kind of the first order of business then it’s a matter of just monitoring the fishery and to see what the effects on the population were.”
Fish and Game have already gotten a start on that with their catch per unit effort work,, when they took an electro fisher and looked at how many fish were caught per minute for every hour they sampled. They plan to go back out with the same method to compare before and after treatment as they restore what was lost.
“We’ll go back in and do that again in the coming weeks and see how it compares so that will give us a good sense of what we lost and then we can do that again next spring to see how things are recolonizing and again translocate move things back in as necessary, said Fredricks.”
Both departments have not changed any of the closures or bans as of Sunday, which means all closures and bans are still in effect until further notice.
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