Faced with proposed fishery harvest cuts of 90 percent and consecutive years marked by poor Klamath River salmon returns, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Tuesday a resolution requesting a federal disaster declaration and immediate action to restore the Klamath River Basin.

The disaster declaration aims to bring relief to the region that is expected to take a $100 million hit in direct economic impacts from the curtailment of the fisheries and the possibility of as much as $300 million in indirect impacts.

At the meeting, Fifth District Supervisor Jill Geist said a basin-wide approach was needed for finding a solution for the Klamath River, which saw the die-off more than 40,000 salmon in 2002 as a result of many environmental conditions, including disease and warm water temperatures from low river flows.

Although a “multitude” of interim efforts were afoot to deal with the Klamath River’s water quality, dam and other issues, Geist said the intent of Tuesday’s resolution was a way for the county to work with Congressional representative for Trinity, Del Norte and Siskiyou counties to gain bipartisan support for basin-wide solutions to securing funding.

“Ultimately, what we are looking for here is to provide some economic relief as we look at the impact of having a closure on our recreation, tribal and commercial fisheries,” Geist said.

First District Supervisor Jimmy Smith, a retired commercial fisherman, said he supported the resolution.

“This year is probably one of the most devastating reductions of harvest opportunity we have ever seen,” Smith said.

The North Coast’s small businesses, which depend on sport fishing industries and tourism throughout the area during fall and winter months, will be particularly hit hard, he said.

Following the announcement of the restricted season by federal regulatory agencies earlier this month, Rep. Mike Thompson fired a salvo of criticism aimed at the Bush administration claiming its “incompetence and gross mismanagement” led to the restricted season.

Matt Gerien, press secretary for Thompson, said in an interview from the Capitol Tuesday that disaster assistance legislation will be unveiled by Thompson on April 24 in San Francisco to fishing groups, Native American tribes and other member of Congress and then introduced to the House of Representative the following day.

With the aim of getting the disaster relief passed by Congress as fast as possible, Gerien said the legislation might be introduced as a standalone bill or an appropriations amendment.

McKinleyville resident Dennis Mayo told the board that the salmon situation on the Klamath shouldn’t have caught anyone off guard.

“Cyclically, we knew this was going to happen,” Mayo said.

Mayo asked the board to include language in the resolution that would help get hatchery fish released from the state’s other rivers marked to help identify the stocks that are out in the open ocean.

“Right now, even with the closure, Klamath stocks are being caught,” Mayo said, referring to fishermen below the San Francisco Bay boundry.

McKinleyville resident and fisheries biologist Pat Higgins said the resolution and letter from the board wasn’t sufficient and needed to address sensitive water pollution issues on the Klamath too.

Higgins told the board that they needed to get involved with the National Marine Fisheries Service, which he said has recently taken issue with the Ninth Circuit of Appeals decision to increase flows of water into the Klamath and to address the removal of dams.

Claiming that the federal and state government has failed them, Higgins said it was “crunch time” for the county to weigh in on the issues.

“You guys have to have more engagement that just writing a letter once and a while on this,” Higgins said.

In response to the comments from Mayo and Higgins, Smith said there was an effort underway for a constant marking for fall chinook salmon to make better data available for harvest and management purposes.

Although he said he agreed with much of what Higgins said with regard to the dire situation of poor water quality on the Klamath due to dams, Smith took issue with his comment that the board has not been engaged with Klamath fishery issues.

“There has been a lot of discussion and constant engagement,” Smith said.

Geist said one of difficulties she has faced since she came to the board, which has been exacerbated by the county’s fiscal woes, is the lack of financial resources, county infrastructure and staff to deal with the important water issues related to the Eel River, Redwood Creek, Mad River, Trinity and Klamath Rivers.