Back in January a question to Idaho Statesman outdoors reporter Pete Zimowsky brought up the didymo topic.
Q: When I was fishing on South Fork of the Boise River last month, I’m almost positive I saw some “didymo” on rocks along the bank.
It was like I thought I saw on the South Island of New Zealand.
CONCERNED ANGLER, email
Zimowsky responded that Idaho Fish and Game has confirmed presence of didymo in locations along the South Fork Boise River. And that it has been there for a number of years. The entire question and answer is here.
So, is didymo the next thing to wring our hands about? What do we know and need to know about this diatom (algae) that goes by the latin name didymosphoenia geminata?
Fortunately it appears the attention to this problem is going to escalate and in early 2013 there will be the International Didymo Conference to be held March 12-13 in Providence, Rhode Island. The national Trout Unlimited organization is a sponsor. Information about the conference can be found at the stopans.org website here.
What information we have on the South Fork Boise River and didymo appears to be largely anecdotal at this point. Some long-time anglers recall a particularly bad episode or two in the early 1990s. In fact 1992 and 1994 come to mind, and those were years where the summertime flows were reduced early in the summer because Anderson Ranch Reservoir was running out of water in those drought years. Some early 2000 drought years also saw a return. Correlation with water flows is only part of the picture, and perhaps an international conference can help shed light on this topic and what to do about it.
For more information there is a pretty good page that EPA has put together here.
