By FRANK HARTZELL Of the Advocate
Both commercial and recreational ocean salmon fishing seasons could be canceled this year from Southern Oregon to the Mexican border, according to media reports from a California Department of Fish and Game meeting in Santa Rosa on Feb. 21.
Local fishing advocates see the possible suspension of ocean salmon fishing as not only an economic disaster but one which may ultimately hurt the recovery of the larger fishery.
Fishing, farming and environmental groups have worked cooperatively with government agencies to restore locally important fisheries such as the Sacramento River salmon run. Many blame the current disaster on lack of that kind of cooperation on the Klamath River, where they believe Oregon farmers got water needed by the salmon and other river life. Some say the willingness of commercial and sports fishermen to cooperate in environmental restoration could be hurt by the current drastic move.
Jim Martin, who is West Coast director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, as well as a member of the Mendocino County Fish and Game Commission and the Salmon Restoration Association Board in Fort Bragg, reported the bleak news about salmon returns on the Klamath River to local leaders following the Santa Rosa meeting.
"DFG's Alan Grover laid out the starkly bad numbers on natural spawner returns on the Klamath River. These numbers will severely restrict commercial and ocean salmon fishing this year," Martin wrote in email.
Martin said the news from DFG was that even with no further fishing in 2006 on the current stock, the expected number of Klamath adult spawners would be 29,200.
Without any commercial, recreational ocean fishing, and no in-river recreational or tribal fishing, the mandated goal of 35,000 returning natural spawners will not be met, Martin reported.
"In the short term, this very likely means reduced ocean fishing opportunities for this year's salmon season. The worst-case scenario would be a complete closure of salmon fishing as early as mid-April. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) can adopt an emergency rule to allow some fishing, up to and including a repeat of 2005 recreational salmon fishing regulations," Martin said.
Fishing, environmental and Native American groups believe they foresaw a Klamath disaster three years ago, when the federal government sought to give more water to Southern Oregon and far Northern California farmers from the Klamath, according to online reports.
Salmon fishing interests and environmental activists protested the move at that time and filed suit, saying it would result in damage to the migratory fish populations.
The lawsuit was denied, the diversions took place and now, three years later, the salmon spawned that year are coming back but in numbers so low the entire fishery may be shut down. Because the Klamath and Sacramento river fishes mix in the ocean, all salmon fishing is imperiled in order to avoid the taking of fish from the Klamath among large schools from the Sacramento River and other healthier rivers.
But the cause of the Klamath declines may not be as simple as high mortality, parasite and disease rates in the Klamath fish due to lower water levels. Humboldt County environmental and Native American groups have launched a plan to restore the river by proposing removal of marginal dams on the Klamath.
Martin, too, said the issue is quite complex.
"Going into the meeting I believed that the depleted run on the Klamath last year was related to the 2002 fish kill, but the numbers of age-three fish returning in 2005 were within normal bounds. The real problem was twofold: returns of age-two-year fish were near all time lows, and there was an unusually high contact rate (catch and release) with age-four adults in the ocean fisheries," Martin said.
Some wonder if canceling the ocean salmon fishing seasons in all of California could really help the Klamath fishery.
"A key question from the fishermen has been whether the mandated goal of 35,000 natural spawners is realistic, given the carrying capacity of the river itself. Ironically, when Klamath returns are at their lowest, the records show that three and four years later, the returns are at their highest. In other words, there is only so much oxygen in the river, and survival and production rates may increase with fewer returning spawners. The recruits from these low-return years are astonishing," Martin wrote.
Scott Boley, who attended a meeting last week on the problem with fish parasites in the Klamath River, also says the problem is more complex than the current debate and regulations have revealed.
"I had thought that perhaps you could just flush the parasites out with higher flows, but probably it's not that simple. The flows would have to be high enough to move large cobbles and scour out all the plant life. The answers to this parasite problem are more subtle and really depend on understanding the whole life cycle of the worm and the parasite, the temperature and high flows and, probably most important of all, the density of salmon in the main Klamath," Boley reported in the online MCN newsgroups.
His questions are a reflection of the puzzlement about the Klamath problem present in reports by university, state and federal reports.
The first and most in-depth piece on the meeting is found in the Fish Sniffer, a premier publication for recreational fishermen. Dan Bacher's Fish Sniffer piece blames the crisis on the Bush Administration. "Karl Rove pressured Gale Norton (Interior Secretary) to divert the Klamath water to agribusiness at the expense of fish, tribes, recreational anglers and commercial fishermen to curry favor with local farmers so an Oregon Republican Senator would be reelected. Now recreational anglers, the Klamath Basin Tribes, commercial fishermen and the entire economy of Northern California will suffer because of the greed of a few," Bacher reported.
Bacher's story from the meeting included an irked statement from Fort Bragg commercial fisherman Bill Forkner. Forkner stood up and summed up the feelings of most meeting participants when he said, "This is all B.S.! You guys (state and federal governments) aren't addressing the problems of the Klamath River!" Bacher wrote.
Martin reported that Recreational Fishing Alliance members are working with local officials in the coastal communities to endorse letters to the PFMC and the federal government to emphasize the economic losses, especially to the local business community, if recreational fishing is further regulated down to nothing.
"We will provide input to the Council and the DFG about how we can provide some fishing opportunity during critical weekends, monthly periods, and perhaps a one-fish bag limit to reduce these losses to the local fishing communities," Martin reported.
Martin says locals concerned about the loss of fishing can take action to help.
"The Council can adopt an emergency rule under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to allow limited fishing opportunities. Letters stating the economic importance of recreational fishing can help to build a record that NMFS can use to defend itself in any potential lawsuit brought by environmental groups who may oppose the rule," Martin added.
Although no environmental groups have weighed in on the issue, some fear the Klamath River disaster will cause a split between two groups that have worked and spent heavily to preserve fish fishermens groups and environmental groups.
"Ask your chamber of commerce, coastal county boards of supervisors and city councils to endorse a letter of support for recreational fishing, with economic indicators of the potential losses to your community if we lost our 2006 salmon season," Martin wrote.
"Sport and commercial fishermen pay for the privilege to fish. Those funds are used to mange the fish and improve the populations," said Joe Janisch, president of the Salmon Restoration Association, explaining how fishing helps restoration.
"Its called the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. We were the only nation in the world that used this model. Now many others have copied it because it works," he said.
Janisch didnt know yet what impacts the cutting off of the season could have on the Worlds Largest Salmon Barbecue, to be held July 1 this year. Funds from the barbecue are funding the rearing of salmon at the Hollow Tree Hatchery. About 100,000 eggs were spawned at the hatchery, which delivers fish into the Eel River system.
"It would be a shame if the Worlds Largest Salmon Barbecue had to cook chicken to raise funds to help salmon," Janisch said.
"What would the Fourth of July in Fort Bragg be without the Salmon Barbecue? If commercial salmon season were open, the Salmon Restoration Association would not have to fly in salmon from Alaska it cost us $24,000 last year. The commercial fishermen used to donate the fish, but thats impossible now," Martin said.
Local members of the Recreational Fishing Alliance are conducting a poll at local businesses about these economic impacts. The two basic questions are: "How many employees do you have? What percentage of your business would be lost if there was no recreational salmon fishing in 2006?"
The answers will give an insight into potential job losses and impacts to the tax base. This data can be used by the federal government to allow some limited fishing opportunities this year, Martin said
The PFMC will adopt a set of options for the 2006 ocean salmon fisheries for public review in Seattle on March 5-10. Then on April 3-7, the council will meet to adopt the 2006 management measures in Sacramento, Bacher reported.
The public is invited to submit input at these meetings or in a special public hearing on the proposed salmon fishery management options which will be held on March 28 at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa, 2777 Fourth St., from 7 to 10 p.m. For information, call 545-8530.