By Paul Boerger
March 15, 2006
The Klamath River and the dependence of fishermen and
irrigators for its water has once again reached the crisis point as federal
salmon fishing season decision makers are proposing to limit or completely
eliminate the salmon catch so stocks can replenish.
No final decision has been made by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and
the proposals will go out to public hearings before being sent to U.S. Commerce
Department for final adoption.
The three possible options are to completely ban salmon fishing along the
California coast from Monterey to the Oregon border, set catch numbers at last
year's levels that reduced the catch by 60 percent or further reduce the catch
below last year's levels.
What has caused the reduced numbers of fish has been debated
for years. Fishermen say the causes are low water levels, dams and contaminants
because of diversions to farmers.
Irrigators claim other factors, including warm water, disease and overcrowding
have reduced salmon runs.
There is conflicting scientific evidence supporting both points of view.
The Klamath Project is located in south central Oregon and
north central California.
Begun in 1905, the Project reclaimed land from lakes and marshland for farming
by building canals, ditches, dams and other water diversions. More than 230,000
acres of farmland are now irrigated by the 5,700 square mile Project.
Commercial and recreational interests, Fish and Game, and Native Americans also
use the Klamath River and its tributaries as a fishery.
The Project includes six dams that are licensed every 50
years. The licenses are up for review this year and Tribal interests, fishermen
and environmentalists are pushing for the dam to be decommissioned to increase
flows and water quality.
Water allocation problems in the Project reached a crisis in 2001 when the
federal government shut off water to farmers to protect fish.
Water was restored to farmers in 2002 and the deaths of tens of thousands of
salmon were blamed on low flows by environmentalists and Native American groups.
Glenn Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations says he expects there will be no salmon fishing season this year.
“The presumption is that it will be a closed season,” Spain said. “The
salmon population is down to four percent of their historic levels. The river is
dying because of hydrodams and underwatering by the federal government.”
Spain said a closed season will be catastrophic for the fishing industry and
related jobs.
“A lot of us won't survive,” Spain said. “$150 million
will be lost and 10,000 jobs from the fishermen to the stores will be lost or
seriously eroded.”
Spain said everyone has suffered from misguided federal policies.
“We don't blame the farmers. We use the water the government gives us and they
use the water they are given,” Spain said. “We are all victims of over
appropriations.”
Spain said in addition to low flows, salmon populations are
suffering from the 2002 die off.
“The fish that were killed didn't lay eggs. The eggs that were laid died of
parasites because of low flows caused by the dams,” Spain said.
Spain said fishermen are hoping the courts will return river flows to minimal
salmon survival levels. The 9th Circuit Court ruled last year that federal
allocated flows were too low. Appeals from other groups have stopped the
implementation of the higher flows, but Spain said they will continue to press
for the higher levels.
Spain said getting rid of the dams is a key component of
bringing back health to the river.
“We only get a shot once every 50 years,” Spain said. “We are pushing for
complete decommissioning. We would have cleaner, better quality water.”
Executive director Greg Addington of Klamath Water Users Association, which
represents irrigators, says the farmers and ranchers are “obviously
concerned” about the potential loss of the salmon season.
“We feel bad for these guys. We went down this road
ourselves,” Addington said in reference to the water shut off to farmers in
2001. “People would be surprised at the amount of support there is here for
the coastal community.”
Addington said the group is investigating what kinds of disaster relief may be
available.
“We're talking with concerned groups. We supplied disaster aid last year when
the season was reduced,” Addington said.
Addington said it is a mistake to simply blame one side or
another for the problems.
“The discouraging thing to us is there seems to be a need for a bad guy. It's
irresponsible to just assign blame to a very complex system,” Addington said.
“We look at all the different factors that affect the area. To think that a
relatively small amount of poor quality water from Upper Klamath Lake put back
into the system is going to solve everything is incomprehensible.”
For more information, visit the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations website at www.pcffa.org and
the Klamath Water Users Association at www.kwua.org.
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