Salmon fishermen hoping for disaster relief in wake of closure

4/7/2006, By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press

HARBOR, Ore. (AP) — A faded photo of hundreds of salmon spilling over the deck of Bill Woods' fishing boat is hung on the cabin bulkhead of his wooden-hulled troller Melissa, a memory of the good old days nearly 30 years ago when a fisherman could make a good living chasing salmon anywhere he liked on the ocean.

This year Woods and some of the skippers of 30 salmon boats at the Port of Brookings are hoping that instead of fish they can hook some federal disaster relief to get them through the toughest salmon closure they have faced in a lifetime on the ocean.

On Thursday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to practically shut down commercial salmon fishing on 700 miles of the West Coast off Oregon and California to protect dwindling stocks of chinook out of Northern California's troubled Klamath River.

The seasons still must be approved by the secretary of Commerce. But the outlook is grim for years ahead, given the longrunning and bitter battles over dams, habitat, water quality and sharing scarce water between farms and fish on the Klamath.

"The feds should be mailing us checks," said Ralph Dairy, skipper of the Anita Lynn and a salmon fisherman for 26 of his 43 years. The fish they can catch on the restricted seasons "won't even pay for insurance and fuel bills. That won't pay for $2,000 worth of federally mandated safety equipment."

"This is the first time we are looking at no viable option to make money," said Gary Smith, skipper of the Migrant.

"I don't think I'll be alive to go salmon fish again," said Woods, 52. "I'll be 62 (by the time anything improves). I'll try to go reach over and gaff a salmon and pitch right off the boat."

Governors of Oregon and California and congressmen from both states are pushing for federal disaster assistance for fishermen, as well as money to improve salmon returns to the Klamath River.

But with a tight federal budget, the prospects are uncertain. A House bill is expected after the April recess. However, NOAA Fisheries denied a disaster declaration for last year's salmon fishing cutbacks over the Klamath.

Klamath chinook are not endangered, but the third straight season of poor returns to spawn in the Klamath prompted the council to close 400 miles of coastline around the river's mouth — from Fort Bragg, Calif., to Florence, Ore. — to all commercial salmon fishing this year.

From Florence north to the Columbia River there are staggered openings with limits of 75-fish per week. Similar restrictions apply from Fort Bragg south to Point Sur near Monterey.

Recreational fisheries were also cut back, but not so severely.

Dave Bitts, a Eureka, Calif., salmon fisherman and secretary of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, estimated the commercial salmon catch will be down 90 percent from a normal year.

"If I go out there and did everything just right I could land 675 fish by the end of August," said Bitts. "If they are 12 pounders and we get 4 bucks a pound ... $25,000 to $35,000 is about the maximum I can earn. That's gross. And fuel is three bucks a gallon. It will be doable for some people and not doable for others."

Dams on the Klamath have cut off 300 miles of spawning habitat since 1917. Fisheries managers allowed too much fishing in the 1980s. And bitter political and court battles continue over sharing scarce water between farms and fish since a drought in 2001 forced cutbacks on irrigation of 180,000 acres in the upper basin. After irrigation was restored in 2002, some 70,000 adult chinook died in the river from diseases linked to low and warm water.

"The only glimmer of hope we see is we're hoping the problems in the Klamath River get fixed," said Scott Boley, a Gold Beach fisherman, seafood market owner and Oregon salmon commissioner. "We didn't have anything to do with this disaster. It wasn't our fault."

The closure comes as consumers have shown they will pay more for troll-caught fish compared to the farm-raised salmon that dominate the market, said Boley. He expects that short supplies could drive prices paid fishermen up to $5 a pound, with filets going for $10 a pound in markets.

 

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