Outdoor Notes : Oil spill threatens sensitive fish habitat
Sunday, July 10, 2011 (Tom Meade). The ExxonMobil oil spill on the Yellowstone River in Montana won’t affect popular trout-fishing stretches in Yellowstone National Park and other areas upstream of Billings, but the spill may harm a sensitive transitional area of the river, according to Trout Unlimited. The conservation organization issued a statement on the accident’s impact on Thursday.
“This accident demonstrates the very real need for diligence when it comes to how we develop and transport oil and gas in the West,” said Kendall Van Dyk, Montana energy field coordinator for TU, and a Montana state senator. “We believe that energy companies should drill for and transport domestic fossil fuels in the West, but we can’t let our guard down. Incidents like this one, where oil was spilled into one of the nation’s most treasured rivers, are simply not acceptable.”
The accident dumped the equivalent of 1,000 barrels of oil into the river, an annual destination for many New England fly fishermen.
The incident, says TU’s official statement, “highlights a need to revamp pipeline crossings in Montana to ensure such a disaster never happens again. While the Yellowstone’s fabled trout water runs farther upstream of the spill site, the affected area is an important transitional habitat between a coldwater trout fishery and a vibrant warm-water fishery. Native fish such as goldeye, sauger and channel catfish call this reach of Yellowstone River home, as do non-native but highly prized fish, including smallmouth bass and walleye. So far, there’s no information available on the impact of the oil spill on these fish or the economically significant recreational fishery in the area.”
Farther downstream in the Yellowstone lives one of the country’s rarest native fish, the pallid sturgeon. Because of high water, there’s no telling how the spill will affect this endangered prehistoric fish.
“We can only wait and see,” said Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited. “We know that we’re seeing oil as far as 40 miles downstream in flooded wheat fields near Pompey’s Pillar, an important landmark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. That’s approaching the stretch of the river home to sturgeon.”
More information is available in TU’s official statement on the matter at tu.org or montanatu.org. For updates, follow TU on Twitter, @TroutUnlimited or @MontanaTu, and on Facebook at facebook.com/troutunlimited or facebook.com/MontanaTroutUnlimited.
Laptew photos in Wakefield See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.
Throughout the summer Orbie’s Café in Wakefield is exhibiting works by underwater photographer and videographer Mike Laptew, “The Diving Fisherman.” His book, “A Fish-Eye View of Narragansett Bay and Beyond” includes framed photographs highlighting the flora and fauna of Narragansett Bay, New England and Costa Rica.
There are images of striped bass, fluke, tautog, bluefish, little tunny, dolphin, marlin and turtles, as well as dramatic seascapes and landscapes.
