Coos Bay World: Running low on options

SEATTLE - What was already a long week of fishery management discussions got longer on Friday as managers struggled again with salmon season proposals for 2006.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council and its advisory bodies plugged numbers into computer models, considered alternative fishing methods and seasons, and requested more ideas from scientists and the fishing industry - all in an effort to afford commercial and recreational fishermen some kind of a season while accounting for the health of the Klamath River fall Chinook population.

It's at the March council meeting that managers usually determine three preliminary options for recreational and commercial fishing seasons for the upcoming summer. Those options are then published for public review and public hearings are held in all three states (see sidebar) so managers can get an idea of which options would best suit the fishing industry. The council then makes final determinations at its April meeting.

But this year is much, much different: Predicted numbers of wild Klamath River fall Chinook are low, almost the lowest on record and that fish is a significant component of commercial fisheries in Southern Oregon.

The fishery management plan for salmon, approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service years ago, recommends closing the fishery if the numbers of wild returning spawners to the Klamath are fewer than 35,000 for three years in a row, and 2006 will be that third year.

It was that kind of dire circumstance that garnered the attention of two members of Congress.

Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. and David Wu, D-Ore., submitted letters to the council regarding potential closures of the sport and commercial fishing seasons.

“We ask you to repudiate NOAA's recommendation,” the letter from DeFazio and Wu said. “NOAA's recommendation is the result of bad federal policy in Oregon's Klamath Basin. ... The (council) must use real science as the basis of its decision and develop a real solution for salmon.”

Much of the trouble centers around a computer model - the Klamath Harvest Model, referred to as the KHM - used to forecast potential Klamath River Chinook impacts based on different information such as seasons, area closures, minimum size limits and quotas. The model hasn't performed well for the last few years.

What it can't take into account are such things as weekly limits. Some of the fishing season options included allowing trollers to retain only 50 fish per week, the first time that weekly limits have been included in the options, but the Klamath model can't figure that into its computations.

“We've looked at it and some quite knowledgeable team members have concluded we don't have a way to model landing limits through the KHM process,” Salmon Technical Team Chairman Dell Simmons said.

It's been frustrating for fishermen.

Salmon Advisory Subpanel Chairman and commercial troller Don Stevens said the advisers weren't often briefed on what changes the technical team was doing during the weeklong meeting.

“This is real trying this year,” Stevens said, noting that one member of the panel was so frustrated that he quit and returned to California early. “The team worked long and hard with no consultation with the (salmon panel).”

The council directed the technical team - a group consisting of scientists from the three state agencies, the tribes, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service - to run through the KHM again on Friday after council members made adjustments to already limited season options.

Most of the optimistic options for Oregon commercial trollers between Cape Falcon and the California border include limited days in May and June and some fishing in September and October with some weekly trip limits of 50 fish added in during the fall and with no - none, zero, zip - commercial fishing at all below Humbug Mountain south of Port Orford because of the area's proximity to the Klamath River.

On the pessimistic end of the scale, the option is to include no fishing at all in Oregon south of Cape Falcon.

The middle options for the areas of Cape Falcon to the South Jetty at Florence and the Florence South Jetty to Cape Arago include no fishing in October, and weekly limits of 100, 75 or 50 fish per vessel per week, depending on the month. There also would be no fishing between Cape Arago and Humbug and only some fishing days in September between Humbug and the California border with a 1,500 Chinook quota.

None of the options includes fishing seasons in July or August, similar to the closures last year. Neither do the options include any commercial fishing in March or April (see sidebar).

Gold Beach commercial fisherman and Fishermen Direct Seafoods owner Scott Boley said Friday the outlook is not good.

“It will force us to buy our fish for our seafood market in Coos Bay - or further north,” Boley said.

Recreational fishermen in Oregon fared better - sport fishermen and charter boat companies between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mountain will have options on the optimistic side for a full Chinook season between March 15 and October. South of Humbug to Horse Mountain in Northern California, sport fishermen will be limited to a handful of days in May, all of June, a handful of fishing days in July, and some days at the end of August and beginning of September.

The pessimistic option, as for the commercial trollers, consists of no fishing whatsoever below Humbug Mountain. The season between Cape Falcon and Humbug would be limited to March 15 through April 30.

The middle option limits some days of sports fishing, but also has various options for the selective coho fishing opportunity in the middle of summer.

The council will meet again in April to take final action on salmon seasons.

On the Web:

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/