spraying in Franks

[MikeD]

couple of guys that pulled up next to us in the middle delta yesterday said there was a small boat out trolling thru Franks spraying for weeds. just passing it along

[DeltaDan]

KB was talking about it with Gene on Ultimate Bass today.


Check out the archived show for a preaty good listen.

[Swimbait Wannabe]

Greetings all, they are not spraying yet. They are dispersing some pellets in Franks Tract as of April 9th. The pellets are Fluoridone. That is what they normally use to treat egeria. They start spraying for water hyacinth in early July. I got on the email for the people that do the spraying so I know there schedule in advance. I'm not sure what it does for the fishing, can't be good. I'm not even sure why they spray in the Delta, it just grows right back??

[Dewayne]

This is going to have a pretty big impact on the Delta and will force a lot of fish out of Frank's. The plan that I heard was to kill off 100% of the weeds in Frank's. With Frank's being a big hatchery I imagine we will also see a smaller than normal recruitment of fry this year.

[nipples]

Just did some research on Fluoridone and found the following:

Fluoridone Based Herbicide: Fluoridone is a slow-acting systemic herbicide, which is effectively absorbed and translocated by both plant roots and stems. Sonar is the trade name and it is sold in liquid or granular form. Fluoridone requires a longer contact time and demonstrates delayed toxicity to target plants. Eurasian watermilfoil is more sensitive to fluoridone than other aquatic plants. This allows a semi-selective approach when low enough doses are used. Since the roots are also killed, multi-season effectiveness can be achieved. It is best applied during the early growth phase of the plants. A permit is required for use of this herbicide.

Advantages: Fluoridine is capable of killing roots, therefore producing a longer lasting effect than other herbicides. A variety of emergent and submersed aquatics are susceptible to this herbicide. Fluoridine can be used selectively, based on concentration. A gradual killing of target plants limits severe oxygen depletion from dead plant material. It has demonstrated low toxicity to aquatic fauna such as fish and invertebrates. 3 to 5 year control has been demonstrated. Extensive testing have shown that, when used according to label instructions, it does not pose negative health affects.

Disadvantages: Fluoridine is a very slow-acting herbicide sometimes taking up to several months for visible effects. It requires a long contact time. Fluoridine is extremely soluble and mixable, therefore, not effective in flowing water situations or for treating a select area in a large open lake. Impacts on non-target plants are possible at higher doses. Time delays are necessary on use of the water (water supply, irrigation, and contact recreation) after application.

Costs: Costs vary with treatment area and dosage. Treatment costs range from $500 to $2,000 per acre.

[MikeD]

Greetings all, they are not spraying yet. They are dispersing some pellets in Franks Tract as of April 9th.

fella's told me that the boat had the sprayer nozzles extended out from the sides and were spraying. but I didn't see it so can't confirm or deny

[Phil Crader]

Dept. of Boating and Waterways is tasked by legislative mandate with controlling invasive weeds, including water hyacinth and egeria densa, in the Delta. They are only required to control them to the extent that waterways remain navigable. In the past, this has meant that they create a path through heavily weeded areas like Franks Tract. http://www.dbw.ca.gov/Aquatic.asp

This is not an eradication program - that would likely be impossible in the Delta. This is merely a control program, and they recognize that they will need to be out there every year doing this. Their operation is permitted by the Water Resources Control Board and scrutinized by agencies that are tasked with protecting water and wildlife. http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/npdes/aquatic.html

Though I don't work directly with aquatic herbicides, I do work in the water quality field and am somewhat familiar with this type of operation. The permit that allows this treatment to occur provides for "fish passage" which means that, according to their permit, they may not treat an area all at once. This allows for weeds to die and use up the oxygen as they decay in the treated areas while still having unaffected areas on the permiter of the treated area. Personally, I'm not sure that a tidal area could be very affected by this decay, since water is washing in and out with each tide change. A dead-end slough may be a different story.

The reason for this post is that I've seen a lot of folks get pretty worked up about this type of issue in the past. I just wanted to point out that a lot of environmental review goes into these projects. If they weren't out there, there would probably be sections of the Delta that were no longer navigable due to infestations by water hyacinth and egeria. This is just my opinion. My comments do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any agencies that regulate wildlife or water resources.

[185vsfrog]

Yeah I was in Franks yesterday and I saw the boat in there. It didnt look like it was dropping pellets or anything. It was just cruizing in the open water with two white boxes sitting up high in the back of the aluminum boat. Hope this doesnt kill franks this year.

[Swimbait Wannabe]

I know that they have been spraying up there for years. This is the first time I heard about them using pellets. Even if they drop em at slack tide, it appears to be a slow acting product so I am sure it just gets dispersed with the tides. I thought the people I get emails from were the only ones doing any type of weeed abatement, guess there must be other agencies envolved. I hope they know what they are doing. This should be a banner year for weeds with the dry hot spring we just had. Who knows??

[bahlzar]

on KB's shoe gene mentioned that they were timed delayed capsols that wouldnt hurt the fish but would disperse them for a period of time, looks like franks will be dead for awhile..