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The 2002 Klamath River fish kill occurred on the Klamath River in California in September 2002. Over 70,000 adult chinook salmon were killed when returning to the river to spawn, making it the largest salmon kill in the history of the American west. A report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the kill resulted from water diversions to Klamath Basin by farmers and ranchers during a drought year. The report found that the atypical low flow in the river along with high fish return numbers and high water temperatures allowed for a gill rot disease to kill at least 33,000 salmon in September 2002, before they could reproduce. The die-off was downstream of the Trinity inflow, and the salmon of the Trinity were impacted to a greater degree than the Klamath as the Trinity run was at its peak. The report does mention that the official fish die-off estimate of 34,056 is probably quite low and could be only half of the actual loss. Klamath River flows as measured at the river gauge in Keno show a low flow of in September 1908 (before irrigation began). During the 2002 fish kill, flows of were recorded. During September of the 2001 irrigation shut-off, an average of was recorded. In response to a 2007 ''Washington Post'' story critical of United States Vice President Dick Cheney's role in diverting water to farmers and ranchers for political gain, the House Natural Resources Committee began an investigation into his role in instigating the fish kill. The fish kill played an important role in stirring an effort by local American Indian peoples, in concert with environmentalists and fishers, to remove dams on the Klamath River. A play called ''Salmon is Everything'' was produced about the fish kill, featuring a cast which included people from the Hupa, Karuk, and Yurok communities. The play was first performed at Humboldt State University, and later at the University of Oregon. ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2002 Klamath River fish kill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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