Cwaam and Koptu
An endemic fish species- meaning they only exist in the Upper Klamath Basin, no where else in the entire world- is currently sitting on the brink of extinction… and our people, state and federal agencies, and governments have failed to adequately protect the species.
Cwaam (Shortnose Suckers) and Koptu (Lost River Suckers), originate from our relative- a big black snake that swam throughout the meandering rivers into the Upper Klamath Lake. At one point in time, our Ewiksiknii coy Modoknii Maklaks were starving, and our Gmunkumps looked down on us and watched us fighting for our survival. Gmunkumps reached down and grabbed the big black snake from our river, and cut it up, throwing pieces back into our river. From this came our cwaam and koptu relatives- for as long as Cwaam, Koptu and Ewiksiknii Modoknii Maklaks exist, our relationship and identities are interconnected and inseparable. What shall happen to our relatives will happen to us, and vice versa.
In the early 1900s, settler establishments were selling canned cwaam in stores in Klamath Falls area. By the 1960s, settlers were killing mass amounts of cwaam and koptu through snag fisheries, and some killing the fish simply as a statement of oppression towards the Maklaks of the Upper Klamath Basin. Along with the federal termination of our peoples, our fish began to decline. Rivers once covered in cwaam and koptu, rapidly diminished and disappeared. By 1971, cwaam and koptu were defined under California law as a species of concern. By 1988, the two fish relatives were listed as endangered on the Endangered Species Act. By the 1990s, there were no more successful recruitment cycles of the species (last generation of cwaam and koptu). In 2016, USGS published a report concerning the species population data for 2001-2015, representing a 60% decline of cwaam- 100,000 cwaam river spawners and 8,000 cwaam spring spawners, and 78% decline of koptu- 19,000 koptu river spawners. In 2017, there was a mass fish kill of all fish species in the Upper Klamath Lake.
Our fish are unable to survive in our home waters because of poor water quality and low water quantity. Our waters have been in a state of extreme drought conditions since 2001, and have yet to leave this dry period. While it is apparent we are facing a catastrophic drought, water diversions have yet to be halted. So, our fish relatives continue to be disregarded, in order for the United States Bureau of Reclamation to sustain the Klamath Irrigation Project water allocations. While our fish do not have enough water in the Upper Klamath Lake to sustain them, the water that they are in, is so toxic, there is no dissolved oxygen left in water columns for fish to live. During the mass algal blooms of the lake, the dissolved oxygen levels drop below 2 in most areas of the lake, and fish suffocate in the lake. The Upper Klamath Lake is naturally nutrient rich, but when irrigators manage cattle, and use fertilizer/pesticides, there is a spike in phosphorus being added into the water systems. The increase of phosphorus due to agriculture, heighten the algal blooms, and make our water quality spiral down to a all time low- so toxic our dogs and children must stay away from the Upper Klamath Lake.
Hatchery Programs, and other state, federal, and tribal efforts towards the protection of cwaam and koptu is crucial and good, but has shown it is not enough for the past 53 Years. We have had 53 years to step up, and the 40 year old fish from the last successful generation of cwaam and koptu do not have much time left…
Water diversions must stop, and water health must be centered and healed.
What are we going to do? The responsibility cannot rest on the shoulders of our governments any longer- tribal, state, or federal. What are we going to do for our relatives? Who is going to step up? And what is our plan?
“Don’t agonize; strategize”
“Lost River (KOPTU) and shortnose suckers (CWAAM) are long-lived lake dwelling Catostomids that make springtime spawning migrations to lake shore or tributaries as early as age-5 for shortnose suckers and age-6 for Lost River suckers, but average at age-6 for shortnose suckers and age-9 for Lost River suckers. Upper Klamath Lake populations typically spawn from March to June, whereas Clear Lake populations spawn from February to April. Additionally, Klamath largescale suckers (Catostomus snyderi), the least lake dependent of the Upper Klamath Basin suckers, are also in Upper Klamath and Clear Lakes.. Spawning migrations start when spawning tributary water temperatures exceed 10 °C in Upper Klamath Lake and can be as low as 2 °C in Clear Lake. Larvae of Upper Klamath Lake river spawning populations out-migrate at night in May and early June to in-lake rearing habitats within several days of emerging from gravel. Clear Lake sucker larvae out-migrate from Willow Creek during April and May. Age-0 juvenile suckers of both taxa are widely distributed throughout Upper Klamath Lake by late-July and August, with several studies indicating no evidence of directed migrations during this time period. However, previous entrainment studies and Bureau of Reclamation catches of juvenile suckers at their Fish Evaluation Station suggest a pulse of suckers going down the Link River in mid-August. These results suggest that although there does not appear to be a directed migration, there are suckers that leave the system via the Link River. Age-1 suckers are much less abundant than age-0 suckers, and immature suckers age-2 and older are rarely encountered in Upper Klamath Lake. The oldest Lost River sucker sampled was estimated to be 57 years, and the oldest shortnose sucker was estimated to be 33 years”.