Off Limits?  Summer Ocean Fishing Off Brookings in Jeopardy as Federal Officials Push for Total Closure on West Coast 

March 15, 2008

By Andy Martin

Special to the Pilot

SACRAMENTO - The likelihood of almost no ocean salmon fishing out of Brookings this summer began to sink in Friday as federal fishery managers pushed for a total closure from the northern Oregon coast to the Mexican border to protect a dismal run of Sacramento ( Calif. ) River fall Chinook.

"We had no idea it was going to be this bad," said Richard Heap of Brookings, the Oregon sport fishing representative on the Pacific Fishery (PFMC) Management Council's Salmon Advisory Subpanel.

The PFMC met in Sacramento this week to adopt options for the sport and commercial ocean salmon seasons on the West Coast.

It will take an emergency declaration from the U.S. secretary of commerce to have any season, which would require a vote by the PFMC before even being considered.

One of the options would allow no ocean fishing south of Cape Falcon , located between Tillamook and Seaside . That may be the only option, as Sacramento River salmon are so few in the Pacific Ocean that the minimum conservation goal of 122,000 fall Chinook returning to the river doesn't appear likely this year. Only 59,100 salmon are expected to spawn in the Sacramento , American and Feather rivers this fall, according to the California Department of Fish and Game.

Rederal regulators are considering a total sport and commercial ocean salmon fishing closure in all of California and most of Oregon to eliminate any ocean impacts of Sacramento River salmon. Sacramento River salmon are caught from the Bay Area of California to the central Oregon Coast .

Brookings anglers will be hoping for the other two options to be selected when the PFMC meets again in April. One would allow Chinook fishing May 24-26, July 4-6 and Aug. 28-31 between Humbug Mountain near Port Orford and Horse Mountain , near Eureka , Calif.

Another option would allow coho fishing June 22-Aug. 31 from the Oregon-California border and Cape Falcon , or until 10,000 hatchery coho are caught. Fishing would be allowed four days per week.

Sport fishermen out of Tillamook, Depoe Bay, Newport, Winchester Bay, Coos Bay, Bandon, Port Orford, Gold Beach and Brookings would share in the 10,000-silver salmon quota.

Heap, along with Brookings fisheries advocate Jim Welter, were disappointed with the options.

"The chances of this season happening is probably pretty slim," Heap said. "It will depend on Sacramento impacts."

The longer sport season options Heap and Welter helped present to the council were thrown out after the California Department of Fish and Game and PFMC ran their first impact model of projected Sacramento River salmon harvest.

"Any fishing that will impact Sacramento Chinooks will require an emergency rule and emergency declaration from the secretary of commerce," Heap said. "So that's the only way we can do anything. What that rule will allow is for the council to approve fisheries for Sacramento fall Chinook that are below projected minimum escapement levels."

In considering a hatchery coho-only season, fishery managers have to weigh the impact of Chinook salmon killed after being hooked.

No commercial salmon seasons are being proposed south of Cape Falcon , except for some experimental fisheries where trollers will test genetics of salmon off the Oregon and California coasts.

This summer marks the first where Sacramento salmon numbers are the major consideration in season. In the past, the number of Klamath River fall Chinook drove season dates and quotas.

"It's a lot grimmer than I thought it would be," said Roger Thompson, owner of Driftwood RV Park in Brookings. "This is probably the worst to one of the worst seasons we've had."

In Crescent City , where a non-existent coho season is under consideration, the outlook for the summer is even more disappointing.

"It's going to totally kill us," said Chris Hegnes of Englund Marine in Crescent City .

Aside from the likely salmon closure, Crescent City is also facing even more reductions in its rockfish seasons, already closed for part of the year.

Sport fishing draws thousands of tourists to Del Norte and Curry counties, Hegnes said.

"May, June, July and August is when they show up from out of the area," he said. "These people spend tons of money from the casinos to the motels to gas stations to eating. It's huge."

A pair of short fall seasons off the mouths of Chetco and Elk rivers are still possible. Those seasons are regulated by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission instead of the PFMC.

Heap will be pushing for the full two-week season out of Brookings in October. Earlier, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife was considering a shorter October season out of Brookings since the Chetco's fall salmon run also has been smaller the last few years. But with little to no ocean fishing in California , where Chetco salmon are often harvested, there should be more salmon coming back to the river this year.

The Rogue Bay fishery should also benefit. A recent study in California revealed around 20 percent of the commercially caught salmon out of Fort Bragg are from the Rogue River .

In some years, the commercial troll fleet in California catches half a million salmon.

The Klamath River will also get more salmon back late this summer and fall with cuts in ocean fishing. Biologists estimate there are 157,000 four-year-old salmon from the Klamath in the ocean. If there is no ocean fishing, around 74,000 fall Chinook are expected to return to the Klamath to spawn.

A minimum of 35,000 salmon are needed to support fisheries. Indian gill netters get half of the allocation set aside for fisheries.

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