SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A battle that went all the way to the White House four years ago over scarce water in the Klamath River will sharply restrict salmon fishing this year along the California and Oregon coasts, fisheries managers said Friday.

The cutbacks come despite a record projected return of Chinook salmon to the Sacramento River system to the south, where improving conditions contrast with the low water levels and warm temperatures that have plagued the Klamath River along the Oregon border.

Poor Klamath conditions as a result of water diversions three and four years ago mean a minimal return of salmon this year, said Chuck Tracy, a salmon expert with the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council.

"It affects fishing all the way down the coast," said Eric Larson, who manages ocean salmon fishing for the California Department of Fish and Game. "The impact ... is in the millions of dollars."

Limits along California's north coast could mean 200,000 fewer salmon that would have sold for $30 to $50 each at the dock, a loss of $6 million to $10 million, said Dave Bitts, vice president of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

"We're going to have about half the fishing opportunity that we had last year off the coast of California and Oregon," said Bitts, 56, of Eureka, who has been salmon fishing for 30 years. "I'm looking at probably a 50 percent reduction in my revenues, and I'd say for the whole fleet."

Besides a truncated season between Fort Bragg, Calif., and Newport, Ore., where the bulk of Klamath salmon live once they reach the ocean, shorter seasons are expected south of south of San Francisco and along the Oregon coast. Fewer fish also will be caught off Washington, which uses a quota system. Recreational fishing also will be more restricted this year the length of the West Coast.

The federal fisheries council, meeting in Sacramento Friday, set official options for this year's salmon seasons. After public hearings March 28 and 29 in Westport, Wash.; Coos Bay, Ore.; and Fort Bragg, Calif., the council will set the season at its meeting April 4-8 in Tacoma, Wash.

The restrictions are sparking a new fight between river and ocean fishermen over the few fish that are projected to return to the Klamath, site of an ongoing struggle between farmers who need the water for irrigation and fishermen and Indian tribes who want more sent downstream to nurture fish.

The season limits will be driven in part by a decision expected next week by the California Fish and Game Commission when it meets in Oakland.

Of the 239,700 Chinook projected to return to the Klamath this year, fisheries managers say 35,000 salmon must survive to sustain the population there. But 3- and 4-year-old fish, the most prolific spawners, are at a premium because of poor conditions as they traveled to the ocean after their birth, fishery managers said.

Once sustainable limits are set, tribes are allocated half the available catch. The remaining fish are divided between commercial and recreational fishermen, in the river and in the ocean.

Traditionally, river fishermen get 15 percent - about 1,200 fish this year, given the poor return. But they're lobbying the California commission for 20 percent this year, arguing the economically poor region needs sportsmen's dollars.

The decision has a disproportionate rippling effect in the ocean, where sport and recreational fishermen must avoid catching even plentiful Sacramento River Chinook to avoid also killing scarce Klamath River salmon.

Members of the federal fishery council countered Friday by also advancing a plan that would limit river fishermen to 10 percent of the allocation, besides the 15 percent and 20 percent options.

"We're arguing over a few hundred fish in the river for them versus thousands of fish in the ocean for us," said Bitts.

Poor returns also are frustrating Indian tribes who traditionally depend on the salmon for both physical and spiritual sustenance. For instance, the Yurok Tribe, which fishes at the Klamath's mouth, expects to be allowed to catch about half the 25,000 salmon it was allotted last year.

Members of the Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa and Klamath tribes plan to rally with fishermen and environmental groups Monday at the California Capitol, urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to become "Conan the Riparian" - a takeoff on one of his movie roles - to champion more water for Klamath salmon.

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Pacific Fishery Management Council: http://www.pcouncil.org/