Coastal fishermen wait for crucial decision on summer salmon season’s fate

Click to Enlarge Sutherlin fisherman: Rick Mason of Sutherlin stands next to his newly purchased boat, Deborah Ann, Friday. Mason is 60 percent booked by fishermen for the upcoming salmon season and may have to refund his customers’ money if the salmon season doesn't happen. JON AUSTRIA / N-R staff photo

ADAM PEARSON,
March 30, 2006


WINCHESTER BAY — Fishermen anticipate a decision by federal fishery managers that could close salmon fishing on the coast this summer.

If that happens, fishermen say there will be no other alternatives left for fishing.

“This is Salmon Harbor. This is the hot spot on the coast for salmon fishing,” said Casey Howard, who co-owns and manages Strike Zone Charters in Winchester Bay with her husband, Scott.

Poor chinook returns on the Klamath River in Northern California over the past three years have federal fishery managers debating the closure of salmon fishing to 700 miles of coastline this summer. It would keep commercial and recreational fishing boats from hooking salmon from Cape Falcon to just south of San Francisco.

Gary Sellers of Sutherlin ran a charter boat business in Winchester Bay for many years before leaving the area in the late 1980s. He says salmon fishing makes up 95 percent of the fishing opportunities in Winchester Bay.

“There’s going to be some major economic impact if we don’t get salmon fishing,” he said.

The outlook is bleak, even if salmon fishing is approved, but fishermen favor a shorter season instead of none at all.

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which is in charge of the decision, has three “options” it will consider for this summer’s salmon season. One option is closure. The other two basically shorten the season.

But fishermen in Winchester Bay say they are only after coho salmon, and that they rarely catch tagged chinook — which they always release.

Click to Enlarge Waiting boats: Docked boats line Salmon Harbor in Winchester Bay Friday. JON AUSTRIA / N-R staff photo

However, “catch-and-release” is part of the controversy.

Because PFMC says Klamath chinook are inevitably hooked alongside coho, a strict-release policy still yields a high chinook mortality rate.

By the conclusion of PFMC’s meetings on April 7 in Sacramento, Calif., fishermen will know the fate of summer salmon fishing.

Rick Beck, owner of Winchester Bay Market, says PFMC’s decision means either a full or empty marina parking lot on the Fourth of July.

“To my business, it’s just devastating,” Beck said of the potential salmon fishing closure.

When the Oregon Coast was faced with salmon fishing curtailments in the early 1990s, Beck said he had to borrow money from the bank just to keep his business open.

“It was horrible and a lot of people went broke,” he said.

Beck said he watched the charter businesses in Winchester Bay drop from 21 boats to only two.

“It just went down to nothing,” he said.

Since that time, Beck said he has paid the loans he borrowed for his store and business.

Click to Enlarge Fish chat: Fishermen Dennis Sherwood of Rivers End Guide Service and Rick Beck of Winchester Bay and Tackle stand next to the Strike Zone Charters storefront in Winchester Bay Friday. JON AUSTRIA / N-R staff photo

He said he expects to ride out the worst possible scenario this summer.

Though some fishermen believe the future is grim, the Howards remain optimistic.

Casey Howard doesn’t believe PFMC will close the entire fishery. She says recreational fishermen hardly make an impact on the chinook fishery, and she’s sure the council will recognize that fact.

Scott Howard says the Klamath chinook hang out in deep waters, about 100 fathoms and beyond — much farther than where most recreational fishermen usually venture.

Klamath chinook, he said, stay between areas known as the Heceta Bank, about 30 miles southwest of Newport, and an area farther south known as the Bandon High Spot.

The Howards would rather see fishing restrictions imposed between those areas, because anything more would be too severe.

“It would devastate the entire coast,” Casey said.


• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.