Editorial: Anglers pay for ocean problems

Chico Enterprise-Record

May 14, 2008

Recreational anglers have a right to feel disturbed about the severe restrictions on salmon fishing this fall. Overfishing isn't the problem, but anglers — and the local economy — will pay anyway.

There will be only a token season on the Sacramento River and no fishing at all for fall-run chinook salmon on the Feather River . It came as no surprise Friday that the state Fish and Game Commission approved the drastic measures. After all, last month the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to close the ocean to both commercial and recreational salmon fishing off California and Oregon .

The ocean closure came because of last year's collapse of the fall run on the Sacramento River , which accounts for about 80 percent of the salmon in California . While the run numbered more than three-quarters of a million spawning adults as recently as 2002, last year the number fell to about 88,000 returning salmon.

Because Sacramento River salmon stray far in the ocean, the coast was shut down to protect the fish. If the coast was closed to protect the Sacramento River fish, it made sense that the river would be closed, too.

In that regard, it was somewhat of a pleasant surprise that the Fish and Game Commission will allow a token salmon season on the river. The Sacramento River will be open in November and December, but only from Red Bluff down to Knight's Landing, and anglers will be allowed to keep only one fish per day.

The commission figures that most fall-run chinook will have migrated above Red Bluff by then, and that mostly late-fall chinook — a distinct run, not as plentiful as the fall run but also not as threatened — will be in the system in November and December.

Those two months are usually lightly fished on the Sacramento , but the river will be a zoo this year as guides try to recoup their losses. In a normal season, the guides fill their boats with anglers in September and October. It's harder to book trips in November and December because of the uncertainty — the fish aren't as plentiful, and the river can get blown out by storms.

This year, five months of fishing pressure on the Sacramento , Feather and American Rivers will be concentrated on one small stretch of river for two months. The combat fishing will make the usual mob scene at the afterbay outlet on the Feather River look tame.

Speaking of the Feather, many in Oroville hoped for a token season there, too. The numbers on the Feather are haunting as well, however. In 2006, 93,281 fall-run chinook either spawned in the river or reached the hatchery in Oroville. Last year, that number plummeted to 27,125. As recently as 2001, the run totaled more than 200,000 on the Feather.

Though this year's spring-run fishing will continue on the Feather until July (spring-run fishing is not allowed on the Sacramento ), there are indications that next year's spring run could be off limits on the Feather.

The future is uncertain because there's so much guesswork involved. Nobody predicted 2007 would be so awful, which is why it's laughable that anybody puts much stock in the PFMC's prediction that 58,200 fish will return in 2008.

The only sure thing is that in 2010, when last fall's depleted juveniles return as adults, the run will be awful. It makes more sense to close the 2010 season than the 2008 season.

So it goes. Most anglers are willing to forgo a year or two of fishing if it helps the run recover.

A salmon recovery, however, is entirely dependent upon improved ocean conditions. Fisheries officials can't control that, so they control what they can. Anglers bear the brunt of the bad news.

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Source:  http://www.chicoer.com/opinion/ci_9253173