PFMC Recommends West Coast's Most Restrictive Ocean Fishing In History 

Columbia Basin Bulletin

April 11, 2008

The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Thursday adopted the most restrictive salmon fisheries in the history for the West Coast, in response to the unprecedented collapse of Sacramento River fall chinook and the exceptionally poor status of coho salmon from Oregon and Washington .

The recommendation will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval by May 1. The Pacific Fisheries Management Council establishes fishing seasons in ocean water three to 200 miles off the Pacific Coast .

"This is a disaster for West Coast salmon fisheries, under any standard," said Council Chairman Don Hansen. "There will be a huge impact on the people who fish for a living, those who eat wild-caught king salmon, those who enjoy recreational fishing, and the businesses and coastal communities dependent on these fisheries."

The Council adopted a complete closure of commercial and sport chinook fisheries off California and most of Oregon and allowed only a 9,000-fish quota for a fishery targeting hatchery coho off central Oregon 's coast. Salmon fisheries off California and Oregon typically have been large -- involving seasons that span from May 1 to Oct. 31 and averaged over 800,000 chinook caught per year from 2000 to 2005.

"The reason for the sudden decline of Sacramento River fish is a mystery at this time," said Council Executive Director Don McIsaac. "The only thing that can be done in the short term is to cut back the commercial and recreational fishing seasons to protect the remaining fish. The longer-term solution will involve a wide variety of people, agencies, and organizations. But for now, unfortunately, those involved in the salmon fisheries are paying the price."

Fisheries north of Cape Falcon on Oregon 's north coast to the Canadian line will also be severely restricted. Although chinook quotas in this area are similar to 2007 and chinook stocks are generally more abundant than the southern stocks, depressed natural coho stocks are constraining access of commercial fisheries to chinook stocks.

Sport fisheries, many of which depend primarily on coho, are even more restricted. Coho quotas are less than 20 percent of the 2007 season for non-Indian fisheries and about 50 percent of 2007 levels for treaty-Indian fisheries.

The closures south of Cape Falcon are due to a sudden, unprecedented decline in the number of Sacramento River fall Chinook returning to the river this year. The stock is the driver of commercial and recreational salmon fisheries off California and most of Oregon . The minimum conservation goal for Sacramento fall chinook is 122,000-180,000 spawning adult salmon (this is the number of salmon needed to return to the river to maintain the health of the run). As recently as 2002, 775,000 adults returned to spawn. This year, even with all ocean salmon fishing closures, the return of fall run chinook to the Sacramento is projected to be only 54,000.

The Council has requested a multi-agency task force led by the National Marine Fisheries Service's West Coast Science Centers to research about 50 potential causative factors and report back to the Council at the September meeting in Boise . The Council wants the multi-agency workgroup to (1) comprehensively evaluate all potential causative factors of the collapse of the 2004 and 2005 Sacramento River fall Chinook stock, (2) explain how ocean conditions may be affecting West Coast salmon stocks on a regional level, and (3) advance ideas for improved forecasting of key West Coast salmon stocks.

With low returns of coho and wild chinook salmon expected back to several rivers in Washington , the salmon fisheries approved Thursday include increased restrictions this year for anglers in the ocean, Puget Sound , and the Columbia River .

"Many salmon runs on the West Coast are alarmingly low this year," said Jeff Koenings, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. "It's more important than ever that we take a cautious and conservative approach to salmon fisheries in Washington 's waters to protect wild salmon populations."

Salmon returns to California and Oregon this year have diminished to the point they can't support fisheries, and chinook harvest quotas in southeast Alaska are half what they were last year, Koenings said.

"The precipitous declines in other states are a wake-up call," said Koenings. "They could signal the future for the Washington coast and Puget Sound as well, unless we restore habitat, carefully manage harvest and retool hatcheries. We need to do all we can to ensure these severe fish declines don't become Washington 's future as well."

This year's fishing package meets important conservation objectives for wild salmon while still providing sustainable fishing opportunities, Koenings said.

The most severe constraints for Washington will be its ocean fisheries, which are limited this year because of a significantly reduced return of Columbia River coho and tighter restrictions needed to protect salmon populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

This year's Columbia River coho run -- a major contributor to the Washington and northern Oregon ocean fishery -- is expected to total about 196,000 fish, nearly 266,000 fewer salmon than last year's return.

As a result of the low Columbia River coho return and tighter federal restrictions, the PFMC adopted a recreational ocean quota this year of 20,350 coho during it's meeting Thursday in SeaTac. That's about 97,000 fewer fish than last year's ocean coho quota and the lowest in about a decade, said Phil Anderson, deputy director of WDFW.

The PFMC also set a recreational chinook harvest guideline for that "north of Falcon" area of 20,000 fish. Although slightly higher than last year, the chinook quota is at a near-record low level, said Anderson, who represents the department on the council.

With this year's quotas, recreational salmon fisheries will be shorter in the ocean this summer. But salmon fisheries are scheduled earlier this year in Marine Areas 1-4. Those fisheries, which will begin June 1, will give anglers an opportunity to harvest hatchery chinook while protecting Columbia River coho, said Anderson .

In the Columbia River , recreational chinook salmon fisheries in the mainstem from the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line upstream to Bonneville Dam also will be reduced this summer. The salmon fishery in the mainstem will be open from August through September, but chinook retention will be limited to Sept. 1-16.

"A number of tough issues had to be resolved to put together fishing opportunities this year," said Anderson . "Protecting weak wild salmon stocks while still providing meaningful fishing opportunities was possible because of the strong cooperation between the state, the tribes and our constituents."

Specific regulations for a portion of the Columbia River and marine areas in Washington will be available early next week on WDFW's North of Falcon website (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/northfalcon/).

WDFW and tribal co-managers develop fisheries for Washington 's "inside waters" -- Puget Sound , the Columbia River and along the coast -- in conjunction with the PFMC process.

In Puget Sound, where chinook salmon returns are expected to total about 245,000 -- about the same forecast as last year -- two fisheries were converted to mark-selective fisheries to preserve opportunity and protect wild salmon. Anglers fishing Marine Area 7 from March 1-April 15 and Marine Area 9 during the month of November will be allowed to catch and keep abundant hatchery salmon but are required to release wild salmon.

"The salmon fishing culture that has been a cornerstone of the coastal communities has reached a low ebb point in 2008 for the collective three West Coast states," said Mark Cedergreen, Council vice chairman. "This was the responsible thing to do, but it will hurt, particularly south of Cape Falcon , Oregon ."

The economic implications will be substantial for commercial, recreational, marine and freshwater fisheries, officials say. In California and Oregon south of Cape Falcon , where Sacramento fish stocks have the biggest impact, the commercial and recreational salmon fishery had an average economic value of $103 million per year between 1979 and 2004. From 2001 to 2005, average economic impact to communities was $61 million ($40 million in the commercial fishery and $21 million in the recreational fishery).

"It's going to be devastating," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "We're going to be asking for federal assistance and looking for alternatives to keep our fishermen afloat for the next year or two until we get a chance to fix salmon problems."

Some fishing and conservation groups blame the Sacramento chinook problems, as well as those of Klamath and Columbia stocks, on government mismanagement. They and others are awaiting new or revised federal management plans or court rulings on existing plans for dams and diversion or irrigation projects on all three major salmon rivers. Federal fishery experts are currently reviewing the affects on salmon of these federal projects and will issue new or revised "biological opinions" for the Klamath and Columbia projects later this spring.

"These salmon are recoverable if we make smart choices and make them soon," said Earthjustice attorney Todd True. "The science tells us it's not hopeless, but it is increasingly urgent to pay attention and change the way we're managing these three rivers so all people can enjoy salmon again."

PCFFA points the finger of blame for the Sacramento salmon collapse on large water diversions in 2005, the same year juvenile salmon that would have returned as adults in 2007 were attempting to migrate through the delta and out to sea.

"What's happened is no surprise given the massive water diversions from the Sacramento San Francisco Bay delta and the failure to address toxic discharges into this estuary, an ecosystem critical to the survival of the salmon run that drives our west coast fishery," said Grader. "It's obvious that we've got to go to work to both save fishermen and fix the delta to bring back our fishery."

During the first week of April a delegation of commercial salmon fishermen from California , Oregon , and Washington visited Washington DC where they asked for congressional hearings to look into the root causes of the Pacific salmon crisis.

"Congressional hearings are needed to focus on measures we need to fix our rivers and the delta so that we can again have fishermen on he water and locally caught king salmon in our markets," Grader said.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski Thursday declared a state of emergency for affected areas of the Oregon coast.

He directed state agencies to take immediate action to help mitigate the impact on Oregon 's communities and fishing related businesses on the coast.

"This will be devastating to the communities and families on the coast that rely on salmon fishing for their livelihood," Kulongoski said. "Our job now is to help these communities make ends meet during this difficult time and to fight for federal assistance to help them for the longer term."

"Every agency will make helping these communities a priority," he said. "Additionally, I will be dedicating $500,000 from my strategic reserve fund to provide immediate assistance until further aid is made available by the federal government."

All state agencies are directed to provide appropriate state resources and to seek any available private and federal dollars to provide emergency assistance to affected individuals, families, businesses and communities. All agencies under the executive order will report back to the governor within 60 days to provide an update on progress made and will continue to report every 60 days until the emergency is over.

On Monday, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she will press for federal economic assistance for fishing communities if the PFMC declared a shutdown or serious restriction of salmon fishing off the West Coast.

"Economic assistance will be essential to deal with any closures or restrictions to our salmon fisheries," Gregoire said. "We also recognize the need to recover, restore and manage these fisheries to ensure their long-term health and sustainability."

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