Updated Aug 10, 2009 - 10:57 am

Hundreds of fish to be checked in Columbia River

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The Tri-City Herald reports the U.S. Department of Energy wants to check how contamination from Hanford has affected the Columbia River's fish.

Plans call for 530 fish to be caught and tested in labs. Their organs will be tested for any Hanford chemicals or radionuclides that could harm anyone eating the fish.

Environmental Assessment Services of Richland has been contracted to fish the waters. They are using commercial fishing techniques to catch as many fish possible. This past week they fished for sturgeon and walleye, but they have also caught bass and whitefish. One hundred carp and suckers are next on the list of fish they need to catch.

The fishing teams are keeping only fish that are 43 to 54 inches long. On a recent morning, many of the hooks set were empty, including one that was pulled nearly straight. The largest sturgeon caught was more than 9 feet long and was returned to the water.

"Most of the oversize fish straighten out the hook, which is what we want," said Bruce Curet of Environmental Assessment Services.

Crews will use electrofishing to catch some of the fish. That technique includes running an electric current into the water from a boat to stun the fish.

But walleyes need to be caught with a fishing pole. The crew from Environmental Assessment Services has caught 27 and will continue fishing until they reach 100.

The collection of fish is part of a comprehensive study of Hanford. It also includes sampling of river water, soil on Hanford islands and sediment from the river.

The findings will go into final cleanup plans for land around Hanford.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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• Schmidt wrote...

  Something fishy going on???

  On August 5, a fire large enough to cause an automatic nuclear shutdown, and rendering the reactor offline until further notice for investigation and repairs......August 10, The dept. of Ecology is frantically reeling in fish of every species to check for radiation. Anyone remember how the information trickled out of Chernobyl?????

  August 10, 2009 10:41 am

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