April 7, 2006


From local and AP reports

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Federal regulators voted to impose severe restrictions on salmon fishing off the coasts of Oregon and Northern California to protect dwindling populations in the Klamath River.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council decided Thursday to close most of the 700 miles of coastline to commercial salmon fishing for much of May, June and July, the most productive months of the season, which runs from April to October.

Federal fishery officials said the closures were the broadest ever imposed on the West Coast salmon fishery. The closure includes Winchester Bay and extends north, to Florence. Alvin Gorgita, a fisherman who has commercially operated out of Winchester Bay for eight years, calls the decision "devastating."

Gorgita said he'll make the three-hour boat ride to fish north of Florence, but he expects it to be competitively flooded with commercial boats.

And those boats, he said, will be competing for salmon in a run that's not as productive as Winchester Bay's.

Gorgita fears a rise in the cost of fuel this summer will cut deep into his catches' earnings and he will have to switch his boat's rigging to albacore tuna fishing.

He's unsure he'll be able to survive another year as a fisherman.

"I'm praying to God we can hold what we got," Gorgita said.

Craig Hedgepeth said he's fortunate he has a smaller commercial fishing boat than Gorgita's.

The commute to Florence from Winchester Bay will probably triple his gas expenses, but he'll make it anyway.

"We'll probably eke it out," Hedgepeth said.

Bill Karcher, who owns Sportsmen's Cannery and Smokehouse in Winchester Bay, calls the federal decision ludicrous.

"The ocean right outside is full of salmon," Karcher said.

Despite the local closure, Karcher is grateful it didn't extend north to Cape Falcon as previously expected.

"It may work out," Karcher said of the season.

Karcher said that in past summers he dealt with about 30 small commercial boats from the Winchester Bay area that brought him fresh daily catches.

Though he doesn't expect that many boats to operate this year, he's hoping his gift shop and a few operating fishermen will help his cannery survive.

"This year I'll buy what I can find," he said.

The closure, however, will have a tremendous impact on fishing communities farther south.

"This is going to be a horrible year," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association. "It's not a total closure, but it's the closest thing to it."

The council's decision, which members described as "brutal" and "gut-wrenching," still must be approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which generally follows the panel's recommendations.

"It strikes a careful balance between ensuring there will be enough salmon for healthy runs in the future, while ensuring there will be as many opportunities as possible for fishermen to harvest other healthier stocks," said Bob Lohn, the NMFS's northwest regional administrator.

Salmon trollers were relieved the council voted to allow at least some fishing -- many had feared a complete ban from Point Sur south of Monterey to Cape Falcon in northern Oregon -- but they said it would be difficult to make ends meet.

"We're getting a lot of fishing time in areas with no fish and very little fishing time in areas that do have fish," said Mike Hudson, of Berkeley, who heads the Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermen's Association. "It's going to allow some of us to squeak by financially, and it's going to keep a little bit of salmon on the market for our customers."

The council voted to impose minor restrictions on recreational salmon fishing, but sport fishermen were generally pleased.

"We're very satisfied with the outcome," said Bob Strickland, president of the United Anglers of California.

The council, meeting in Sacramento, heard testimony from dozens of biologists, environmentalists and fishermen on whether it was possible to preserve a salmon fishing season without hurting Klamath chinook.

While salmon populations from the Sacramento and Columbia rivers are healthy, Northern California's Klamath River has seen poor returns of spawning salmon. In recent years, Klamath water has been diverted for farming, leading to lower river levels, warmer water and an increase in parasites that attack young fish.

"We must make fixing the Klamath River our No. 1 priority, so we don't have to keep coming back here year after year," said PCFFA President Chuck Wise, a Bodega Bay fisherman.

Because salmon return to spawn in the rivers where they were born, fishery managers are concerned that catching the reduced numbers of Klamath salmon could deplete future generations.

There are plenty of salmon in the ocean, but it's nearly impossible to catch those salmon without taking Klamath fish because fishermen can't distinguish between salmon from different rivers.

Federal regulators are required to ensure that at least 35,000 salmon return to the Klamath each year to keep the population stable. But the council voted to lower that threshold to 21,000 salmon this year to preserve a minimal fishing season.

The 1,200 West Coast fishermen who trolled for salmon last year worry about the impact of fishing restrictions on their livelihoods as well as coastal communities up and down the West Coast that depend on the trade.

Commercial salmon landings were worth $23 million in California and $13 million in Oregon last year, while recreational fisheries were worth $18 million in California and $5 million in Oregon, according to the council.

Mark Newell, a fisherman and seafood processor based in Newport, said trollers would have to struggle to break even and may move into other fisheries such as albacore tuna to compensate for the loss.

"It's going to be really tough," Newell said. "A lot of guys are going to lose their boats and go bankrupt."

Fishermen in Washington state said they expected an influx of Oregon trollers who will increase pressure on their fishery.

"It makes the pieces of the pie much smaller for the fishermen that don't travel," said Jim Olson, a fisherman in Auburn, Wash., and vice president of the Washington Trollers Association.

Most Americans won't feel the impact because the 668,000 chinook salmon caught last year made up less than 1 percent of U.S. consumption. But Chinook is considered the highest quality salmon and is generally sold at high-end restaurants and specialty food markets.

Standing on the dock in Brookings on the southern Oregon Coast, longtime salmon fishermen Ralph Dairy, Bill Woods and Gary Smith held out hope that there would be some federal disaster relief to help them get through the year.

"We don't know what we'll end up doing because it hasn't been like this," Smith said.