Aid amounts can range from $75 to $7,500

CHARLESTON — Nearly 300 commercial salmon trollers are getting checks from the Oregon state government to help them through a fishing season that was virtually curtailed, but the varying sizes of the checks are making some unhappy.

According to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office, 280 of 360 applicants will receive funds.

The highest check — or checks — was for $7,500. One of the smallest checks was $75.

“The intent was never for anyone to get a big amount of money like that,” Oregon Salmon Commission member Jeff Reeves said. “The idea was for equitable assistance.”

When the National Marine Fisheries Service closed most of the season for trollers in Oregon and Northern California to protect wild runs of Klamath River fall chinook, the state stepped up with $500,000 in aid in June, with another possible $500,000 in September through approval by the Legislative Emergency Board. Checks now going out are from the first $500,000.

Fisherman cite a letter from Director Katy Coba of the Oregon Department of Agriculture:

“It is important to re-emphasize that $500,000 is a limited amount of money and does not address all of the legitimate needs of fishermen or their families. As an example, if the department was to receive applications from 300 boat owners and expenses were reimbursed equally, each boat owner would receive approximately $1,600.”

So, many trollers figured everyone would receive about $1,600, give or take a few hundred dollars.

Dalton Hobbs, assistant director of the Agriculture Department, said a committee of coastal officials and members of the state agencies reviewed the applications. They were guided by administrative rules that determined eligibility and directions from legislators that said the state must be sure it gets the funds to the fishermen who need it most.

So, the application forms included questions including how much income a fisherman received from other sources and other fisheries; how much was earned from fishing in other states; which infrastructure-related expenses already had been paid; and a section for a statement of need in which fishermen could describe their particular circumstances. They were all details the state said it needed to pass muster with taxpayers.

“We feel comfortable we were able to do as the Legislature (E-board) directed,” Hobbs said.

He and others said the state will do things differently if there’s a distribution in September.

Onno Husing, executive director of the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association, worked with the Salmon Commission before the applications were mailed out. He said he has talked Coba about the disparities.

“She agrees that if there is going to be another $500,000, that they will go back to the drawing board and do things differently,” he said. “But let’s remember that the ODA and Katy Coba are friends of this industry and we should put this particular disappointment in context. They are, again, our allies. And heaven knows this industry needs our allies.”

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