LIVINGSTON — Tens of thousands of dead fish have closed Montana's Yellowstone River and stirred new worries Monday about lasting impacts to the region's lucrative outdoors industry.
Gov. Steve Bullock declared an "invasive species emergency" over an aquatic parasite blamed for the dying fish. A 183-mile stretch of the Yellowstone and all waterways that drain into it have been closed since Aug. 19 to prevent the deadly parasite from spreading. The unprecedented move came after thousands of dead mountain whitefish started washing up on the river's banks downstream from Yellowstone National Park.
It's unclear how closing the waterways will have any particular impact upon the parasite, although it's possible that managers may suspect that rafts and other watercraft might be serving as transportation vectors, thus prompting the closure. One thing that seems fairly certain: a successful parasite doesn't kill its host species; although small numbers of other fish species have been affected as well, the primary target appears to have been mountain whitefish, which have been dying quickly and in large numbers. That doesn't bode well for long-term survival of the parasite.
