Ocean fishing ruling looms

March 28, 2008

By Michelle Ma

Triplicate staff writer

Local officials and fishermen are preparing to plead their cases next week to coastal fishery managers to allow salmon fishing this summer.

The entire ocean salmon season from Northern Oregon to the Mexico border is at risk of being closed due to last fall's unprecedented collapse of chinook salmon on the Sacramento River .

The Pacific Fishery Management Council recently proposed three options for the 2008 salmon season. The choices range from no recreation or commercial ocean season to some limited fishing on weekends this summer. Fishing will only be allowed this season if U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez declares an emergency rule to allow fishing for those limited days.

Council members will hear public comment at regional meetings before making their final recommendation the second week of April in Seattle . The closest public hearing is in Eureka on Tuesday. Another is being held in Coos Bay , Ore. , on Monday.

"It's your opportunity to go up and have public comment that will go back to the council," said Jim Welter, a Brookings resident who served for years on the Salmon Advisory Subpanel to the council.

Decision-makers take public input seriously before choosing a final fishery option, said Welter, who used to fish commercially out of Fort Bragg . Now, Welter represents the local Klamath Management Zone Fisheries Coalition at regional council meetings.

The local coalition, which has representation from ports, counties and cities, decided at its last meeting to advocate the option that would allow the most fishing—only three weekends for recreation fishing and about a month of limited commercial fishing. The group would also like to see DNA studies take place that would help differentiate between river stocks in the ocean.

Given that all of the management options are so limited, the public's involvement in the process might not be as tenacious as usual, said Jimmy Smith, a Humboldt County supervisor who is involved with the local coalition.

"This year with the dismal projections, there is not the excitement. People are just really dismayed over the numbers that have come out of the Central Valley ," Smith said. "I don't think we're going to see anywhere near the degree of enthusiasm in the management process."

Most of the salmon caught off the coast of California and Southern Oregon originate in the Sacramento River . But this sustaining run plummeted last fall, with only about 90,000 adult chinook returning to the river and its tributaries to spawn.

Even with an entire ocean fishing closure, only about 58,000 spawners are expected to return to the Sacramento this fall. That number is far below the minimum conservation goal of 122,000 to 180,000 adult spawners set for the Sacramento , forcing a season closure unless an emergency ruling is declared to allow minimal fishing.

As recently as 2002, about 775,000 adult chinook returned to the Sacramento .

In light of the Sacramento River salmon collapse, West Coast members of Congress have recently called on Commerce Secretary Gutierrez to declare a fishery failure, which would prompt federal aid. Fishing families and businesses are getting relief funds now from the 2006 fishery disaster declared on the Klamath River .

The Pacific Fishery Management Council will make a final recommendation on the ocean season at meetings April 7-11 in Seattle . That proposal will go before the National Marine Fisheries Service, which will make a final decision.

Reach Michelle Ma at mma@triplicate.com.

If You Go

•What: Public hearing to give input on salmon ocean fishery options

•When: Tuesday at 7 p.m.

•Where: Red Lion Hotel Eureka 's Evergreen Room,

1929 Fourth St. , Eureka

If You Go

•What: Public hearing to give input on salmon ocean fishery options

•When: Monday at 7 p.m.

•Where: Red Lion Hotel Coos Bay's Umpqua Room, 1313 N Bayshore Drive , Coos Bay , Ore.

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Source:  http://www.triplicate.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=8120