1 DECEMBER 1999
From: Gilbert Vanstappen <gilbert.vanstappen@rug.ac.be>
To: <artemia-l@sparklist.com>
BRINE SHRIMP RESCUE PLAN AT GREAT SALT LAKE
Author: Associated Press
As brine shrimpers face one of the worst harvests in memory because of unbalanced salinity in the Great Salt Lake, a state plan is being drafted to solve the problem.
The lake is cut in half by a Union Pacific rail causeway, which keeps
saltier water to the north and fresher water to the south. The separation
destroys the salt balance that brine shrimp need to thrive.
The state has asked Union Pacific to clean out the 15-by-20-foot culverts running underneath the causeway as a way to increase the circulation between the two sides. The state also wants the culverts reengineered so they don't clog as easily in the future, said Karl Kappe, a strategic planner with the Utah Division of Forests, Fires and State Lands. The state has offered to pay for the four-foot dredging of an existing breach on the causeway's west end. Scientists then will monitor the lake for two years to see if the salinity balance is restored. If it's not, more action may be taken, Kappe said.
"We want to cooperate with the railroad company and get things done," Kappe said.
But brine shrimpers say the measures will be too little too late.
"We're hurting down here," said John Willener Sr., a Hooper resident and owner of a small fleet of brine shrimping boats. "Many of the small operations have had to leave or are merging with other shrimpers." The first three days of this year's shrimping season, which began two weeks ago, saw the weakest harvest on record, according to the state Division of Wildlife Resources.
So far, about 470,000 pounds of brine shrimp have been harvested from the lake's surface and almost 72,000 pounds from the shoreline. The harvest was a fraction of the first week's harvest last year, when brine fishers caught about 1.5 million pounds from lake and additional 335,000 pounds from shore, according to Paul Birdsey, aquatics biologist for Wildlife Resources.
In recent years, the division has had to postpone or call short the brine
shrimp season, which normally extends from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31, because egg counts have been so low.
Shrimping has been restricted to the northern portion of the lake, where
the saltier water is hosting most of the shrimp, Birdsey said.
"Typically, we open up the whole lake and most of the harvest occurs in the south, where most of the brine eggs are," Birdsey said. "The north arm just isn't productive."
The Great Salt Lake is the world's largest supplier of brine shrimp, which are used to feed the larger shrimp that reach dinner tables and
restaurants.