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0007114 u......; cEil THE FORUM Fargo, No. Dak. NOV 28 1981 l.I' .1 \.; i; ,.,; I :"'LlaImccr-tTltltte-1n-\'...::~: oJ i..;":'.' 'oJ~.'~".~t;f_. ...,.2, 'I (I I V; '-- Report says Garrison fish movenlent can't be measured GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - The movement of fish species from the Garrison Diversion, proj- ect into Manitoba waters - which Manitobans fear would foul their commercial and recreational fish. ing industries - can't. be accu- rately measured, says a Univer- sity 01 North Dakota report. The newly'published report on fish in North Dakota's Garrison water project appears to give little support to either critics or proponenls 01 the stalled 250,000- acre waler project. UNO biology professor John Owen supervised the 2l1'page re. search report. He chose not to predict the likelihood of fish being transferred between river basins to Canadian waters. The Garrison project "provides conduits lor the delivery of fish, and more water for their sur- vival," Owen said in summarizing his research. , "II you change the water, you change the fish, but we really --- --- .-.... can'l tell to what degree," he said. Canadian lears about fish and other aquatic lile traveling from the Missouri River Basin into Manitoba's Hudson Bay drainage area have created major stum- bling blocks for Garrison suppor- ters. Owen believes some biologists in Canada relied on "worst-case possibilities" to describe threats from inter basin fish transfers. Garrison would divert Missouri River water to central and east. ern North Dakota for irrigation and commercial, residential and recreational use. .-. Canadians say Garrison flows could endanger fishing in Lake . Winnipeg - for example, by pro- viding an avenue for fish such as gizzard shad to compete with val- ued native species such as gold- eye. '. "Although construction of the Garrison Diversion _ Unit will in- crease the r.isk of ..interbasin. transfer of fish species, the proba- bility oC inlerbaslD transfer cannot ..':be calculated accurately," the re- port said. . . "Measures are being taken to prevent interbasin transfer and their effectiveness is being eval- ua ted by other fishery workers." More detailed project plans are needed before scientists can bet-. ter understand the fish transfer risks to Canada, said Owen, who worked on the report with two UNO graduate students. . The UNO report is "a first step to understanding fish in the ( area," he said. "Now we know where they are. If you affect the water, you affect their distribu- tion." . . Watersheds covered by. the I study are the James, Wild Rice, -- -- I Sherenne, Devils Lake and Souris baslOs. Garrison supporters hope con- struction on the project might prc>-- ceed on n small scale while the Canadian. environmental con- cerns, including the possible fish transfers, are studied further. Congress last week agreed to appropriate $4 million this year to continue Garrison work. But there is a catch: the money can't be spent. . The U.S. House last week handed the project a major set- back by voting down a Senate at- tempt to block a federal court or- der that has halted construction, The Garrison appropriation was in the money bill passed by Con- gress, but it's still tied up by the House vote. The legal holdup resulls from an environmental lawsuit by the National Audubon Society. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals In . Washington has set a Jan. 18 hearing date for North Dakota's appeal of a federal district ,court ruling that halted construction on Garrison.: . .... . . ., Lawyers for the state and the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District are contesting a May 1981 order which halted construction until . such tiine that Congress might reauthorize the project. The order was issued in a law- I sull hroullht by the Audubon Sc>-- : ciety and tS based on a 1977 agree- ment between the environmental group and then-Secretary of Inte- rior Cecil Andrus. . _____ I