Fishermen now left fishing for funding

By Susan Chambers, Staff Writer
May 14, 2008

CHARLESTON — State money, federal money. Charter boats and commercial salmon boats. Crew funds? Funding tied to permits or boats?

It’s all up in the air for now, but businesses, vessel owners and crewmen staring into a future devoid of salmon are banking on getting federal disaster money. More than 30 of them met with Oregon Salmon Commission member Jeff Reeves and commercial salmon troller Paul Heikkila on Monday to brainstorm ways the funds should be distributed.

Commercial fleets reviewed the process that took place in 2007, when fishing on the South Coast was closed in 2006 due to poor returns of Klamath River fall Chinook. This year, most Chinook fishing was closed in Oregon , California and Washington thanks to low runs on most rivers, primarily the Sacramento .

The federal government formally declared the fishery a failure on May 1. Now it’s up to Congress to appropriate the money and funnel it to the fishing industry.

“The failure only covers commercials but we’re arguing for charters,” Heikkila told the group.

It’s an easy argument to make. The National Marine Fisheries Service already acknowledged that when it released an economic analysis of the West Coast salmon fishery on May 1.

“While the charter fleet and other recreational fisheries are not considered to be commercial fisheries within the definition of the (Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act) … they are nonetheless important coastal businesses contributing significantly to the income of fishing communities,” the agency wrote.

Heikkila noted that the staff of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said three bills, an open supplemental bill, an Iraq war bill or the Farm Bill, could be used as a vehicle to attach salmon disaster funding.

On Wednesday, Rep. Thompson, D-Calif., said he was able to include $170 million in disaster funding in the Farm Bill. The bill is expected to pass the House and Senate this week, Thompson said in a press release, but there may be some technical issues with the bill that may take longer to work out.

Furthermore, $170 million is less than what all three West Coast governors submitted as prospective losses. In an April 21 letter to Congress, they estimated about $290 million in direct revenue impacts: $208.6 million for California , $44.9 million for Oregon and $36.2 million for Washington .

Working on specifics

On Monday, Bandon commercial troller James Moore pointed out there may be a problem with attaching funds to the Farm Bill. Funding likely would have to go through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he said, rather than the U.S. Department of Commerce, under which the National Marine Fisheries Service is just one agency.

If that’s the case, Heikkila said, the administrative cost to distribute funds may be more than it was last year, when disaster funds were administered by NMFS and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

It wasn’t long into the discussion that some angry crewmembers interrupted Reeves and Heikkila.

Funding related to the 2006 Klamath River fishery failure, eventually distributed in 2007, was primarily given to boat owners or salmon permit owners. Some captains paid a portion of their disaster funds to their crews, some didn’t.

Reeves acknowledged the crewmen’s issue.

“A lot of captains have come up to me, requesting crew shares,” he said, noting that the Salmon Commission would be considering that — and other — ideas shared at this and other Oregon meetings.

Moore said there also could be an issue with late entrants into the commercial salmon fishery. Those fishermen have little fishing history on which to base potential funding requests. At the same time, the fleet is getting older. Regulations and relatively sparse opportunity make it difficult for young fishermen to get a toehold and make a living.

“We don’t want to lose these people,” Moore said.

He also suggested a higher individual baseline amount could be a solution to keeping more of the lower producers and new entrants afloat for a little longer.

Reeves asked some of the representatives from local businesses — Mark Fleck from Englund Marine Supply and Brian Skallerud of Skallerud Marine — if their businesses could use disaster assistance.

Fleck said Englund Marine, with stores in several West Coast ports, did not participate in disaster funding last time but rather appreciated fishermen spending their disaster money in Englund stores. Other gear stores also benefited from trollers receiving money, too, as fishermen spent funds on equipment and maintenance products.

Skallerud said he’s not completely dependent on salmon trollers for his income, but he is concerned. A few boats take advantage of the service he provides.

His concern is more long-term.

“It’s a tragedy when you start closing seasons down,” Skallerud said. “I’m worried about the future of commercial salmon fishermen.” 

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