Wednesday October 11, 2023
The Lebanon Local —
Thousands of dead juvenile fish started showing up below Green Peter Dam this weekend, causing concern among recreationists who saw the carcasses floating downstream and gathering in clumps along shorelines.
Reed Fischer, STEP biologist with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the fish were Kokanee salmon that, according to a pathology report, died as a result of barotrauma. Known as decompression sickness or “the bends” in humans, barotrauma is a deadly experience that happens from a rapid change in depth and oversaturation of gas in the blood.
“It looks like that’s what happened to these fish here,” Fischer said. “They had an oversaturation of nitrogen and other blood gasses, and that causes barotrauma, or gas bubble disease. It puts bubbles in their bloodstream and their body cavity.”