Feds call for halt this season of salmon fisheries off coast

SEATTLE -- Federal fish managers on Tuesday said both commercial and sport salmon fishing from California to Oregon must not be allowed this season.

If taken, it would be the first time for such a widespread closure -- one that would devastate coastal fisheries and make ocean-caught salmon scarce to the retail buyer.

The National Marine Fisheries Service recommendation to the Pacific Fishery Management Council is only one voice the council must consider as it meets this week in Seattle, but it carries tremendous weight. The council is an advisory body to the fisheries service and proposes harvest limit.

"This would be unprecedented and, needless to say, would have tremendous effects on fishermen," said Brian Gorman, a fisheries service spokesman. "But we don't see around this, is what we're saying. No flexibility."

Salmon fishing along approximately 700 miles of coastline -- from Oregon's Cape Falcon, near Manzanita, to California's Point Sur, just south of San Francisco -- would be shut down if the recommendation becomes fact.

The area affected by the expected closure supplied 96 percent of the roughly 250,000 salmon caught commercially last year in the ocean off Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. About two-thirds of salmon caught by Oregon sportfishermen last year in the ocean came from the same area.

The reason for the closure: a desperate situation on the Klamath River, where the fall chinook run is dwindling.

Gorman said this is the third year in a row Klamath fish have not met minimum thresholds, a likely result of depleted river flows that made conditions ripe for a fish-killing parasite. The parasite thrives in slow-moving, warm water, and the Klamath River has been found to be teeming with it in recent years.

"Like most problems, this is one caused by a series of several discrete events that have a cascading effect and will likely end up leading to a catastrophe," Gorman said. "It's not just a single, isolated cause."

Even though there are plenty more salmon in the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast, regulators want to shut the season down to save the Klamath runs.

Management method

Fisheries regulators use a methodology known as "weak stock management." That means when there is danger of overfishing the weakest stock in a given area of ocean, all fishing for that kind of fish is stopped. Because the Klamath River salmon return to the river from north and south of the river's mouth, all salmon fishing must stop in the designated area because it is impossible to tell from which river a given fish may have originated.

That's bad news for consumers. The shutdown certainly will mean far less ocean-caught salmon in grocery stores and potentially higher prices.

And worse news for fishermen. Many face economic ruin and are calling for a federal disaster declaration. Coastal communities that depend on the sportfishing trade -- from motels to restaurants to charter boats -- could be hammered, as well.

Klamath River chinook populations have fallen well below required limits for the past several years, said Peter Dygert, a fisheries service spokesman. Biologists are expecting 29,000 spawning salmon to return to the Klamath for the fall chinook run; that's 6,000 fish below the minimum for conservation.

Traditional season

In a plentiful year, the salmon trolling season begins March 15 and runs through October. With declining runs in the Klamath, last year only about half of the season went forward. Historically, the Klamath Basin was one of the West Coast's top three most productive salmon river systems, behind only the Columbia and Sacramento river basins.

Today the salmon runs are beset by a host of intractable problems. From irrigation battles at its headwaters near Klamath Falls to a series of dams that prevent fish passage, to declining water quality and disease, the river is an obstacle course to the few remaining fish that attempt to spawn.

The council has authority in federal waters from three miles off the Pacific coastline to 200 miles out. States, which have jurisdiction from the shoreline to three miles out to sea, typically follow federal recommendations.

Dygert encouraged the council to proceed to consider other recommendations but cautioned that the fisheries service is unlikely to approve a proposal without an emergency closure. The fisheries service has final approval over any proposal from the council.

Appears certain

If the season is closed, as it now appears is almost certain, the government would work to expedite federal disaster relief for fishermen, said Frank Lockhart, director of the fisheries service's Northwest sustainable fisheries division.

The salmon season is the focal point of the Seattle meetings. Attendees were anticipating the guidance from fisheries service in a letter last week. By Tuesday, the letter still hadn't been approved by officials in Washington, D.C. Instead, the contents were read to the council.

The council is expected to make its final recommendation to the fisheries service when it meets again in April in Sacramento.

Peter Sleeth: 503-294-4119; petersleeth@news.oregonian.com The Associated Press contributed to this report.