Agency is looking to ban commercial and recreational use throughout coast
By Dylan Darling, Record
Searchlight
April 2, 2006
It's gut-check time for salmon
fishermen.
Commercial and recreational salmon fishing in federal
waters off a 700-mile stretch of coast could be called off this year by the
Pacific Fisheries Management Council in a meeting this week in Sacramento.
The possibility is enough to make even the most seasoned fishermen, whose
stomach can take the ups and downs of the mightiest of sea swells, feel
queasy.
The council will weigh three options: a limited season, an
even more limited season or no season at all.
"The options are very bad, simply awful and
terrible," said Glen Spain, northwest regional director for the Pacific
Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
A decision is expected Thursday.
Regardless of the decision, there should be a recreational
salmon season on the Sacramento River because of a strong run last year and
predictions for another good run this fall, said Steve Martarano, state
Department of Fish and Game spokesman.
"The river should be okay," he said.
If there is an ocean salmon ban, it would be the first of
its kind for fishermen, who run about 1,000 salmon-trolling boats from ports
along the Northern California and Oregon Coasts. The ban would run from
Point Sur near Monterey to Cape Falcon near Oregon's Tillamook Bay.
Sacramento Chinook are projected to have a fall run of
between 385,000 and 550,000 -- well above levels that would force a closure
of salmon fishing at sea. The problem is that the Chinook run on the Klamath
is expected to be weak, in large part because the population of returning
spawners was decimated by a fish kill on the lower river in the fall of
2002.
Since there's no way for ocean fishermen to distinguish
between a Sacramento salmon and a Klamath salmon, officials said a complete
closure is necessary lest Klamath stocks get depleted.
"That's the real crux of the matter, that the stocks
are mixed out there in the ocean," said Chuck Tracy, salmon staff
officer for the council. "You can't tell them apart when you are
catching them."
Salmon season for federal waters off California and Oregon
usually starts April 1.
Federal disaster relief is being considered for
salmon-related fishing businesses on the coast that could be affected by the
commercial closure, according to the state Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
The state's salmon industry, commercial and recreational combined, is
estimated to be worth $44 million by the council and $150 million by
industry representatives.
Spain said one processor in Eureka he talked to said he
stands to lose $6 million to $8 million.
The headwaters of the Klamath have been at the heart of
controversy over the past five years because of competing wants of farmers,
fishermen and American Indian tribes. Council rules require that at least
35,000 natural-run Chinook be headed upriver in the fall for there to be
recreational and commercial fishing at sea. This year's projection is for
29,000, Tracy said.
Last year, another low projection for natural-run Chinook
on the Klamath led to a limited ocean season, Tracy said. Fishermen were
allowed 6,000 salmon and the season lasted 13 days, from Sept. 3 to 16,
until it was met.
The looming ocean closure comes on the heels of two
developments that could affect management of the Klamath. Last Tuesday,
Federal District Judge Saundra Armstrong ordered federal water managers to
send more flows down the river in dry years. The next day, federal agencies
said fish passage around four power dams on the river should be part of the
owner's new operating license.
Wayne Heikkila, executive director of the Western Fishboat
Owners Association, has been watching the salmon issue with interest.
Although his Redding-based non-profit group represents about 400 albacore
tuna boats, he used to fish for salmon off the Northern California coast.
He said he stopped 10 years ago because of the ongoing
controversies.
"Salmon issues just got so political," he said.
"Guys get ulcers worrying about those."
Reporter Dylan Darling can be reached at 225-8266 or at ddarling@redding.com.