Olivia Wu -
San Francisco Chronicle
The commercial salmon season opened on Sunday with forecasts of a bumper crop
of 1.6 million wild salmon available on the
But those who catch them, sell them and cook them for a living find their
hands tied. The 2005 season has been squeezed by severe geographic and time
limits, resulting in almost a complete closure in June.
Consumers scanning the seafood selection in markets are likely to see a small
number of local, wild king salmon side by side with frozen wild salmon from last
year and from
The situation is akin to saying that the sun will be out all over Northern
California, but you're allowed catch the rays only if you're in Santa Cruz or
Monterey.
Here's why: The Klamath River is low in salmon stocks this year because so
much of the river's water was diverted to farms suffering from the drought of
2002. As a result, huge numbers of salmon were killed. To make sure enough
Klamath River salmon return to spawn, other Pacific salmon that mingle with the
Klamath, including those that gather to swim back to the Sacramento River, must
be left alone. The
"It's just real bad luck," says Jay Harlow, editor and publisher of
the Seafood Monitor, an online consumer/trade newsletter.
A supreme irony
Everyone I spoke to who cooks or fishes for salmon for a living agrees. Some
go further and call it a calamity, a disaster -- and a supreme irony.
Take, for example, the calamity felt by the cooks at Fish in
"I was putting my money where my mouth was," he says.
Or take the irony that burns in Duncan MacLean's belly. MacLean fishes out of
Half Moon Bay. Two years ago on the Fourth of July, he was handing out free wild
salmon from his boat to protest the unbearably low prices caused by farmed
salmon.
Now, folks are clamoring for wild Pacific salmon. "You finally get a
chance, and they shut us down for it," he says.
Then there's the sense of disaster felt by Barbara Emley, who has fished
salmon commercially for 20 years. Based at Fisherman's Wharf in
"We don't have access to the waters where we know the fish are,"
she says. "This is the worst season in opportunity we've ever had."
Emley and two others represented commercial salmon fishers in meetings of the
Pacific Fisheries Management Council to thrash out an agreement with state
officials and scientists.
"If it were not for the Klamath, this would be a huge year.
Hard choices
Emley says the representatives anguished over setting moratoriums for certain
months, especially during June, normally the month when the most fish are
caught. In the final agreement, Emley gave up the area on the north and central
coasts in exchange for more time at sea, albeit way south.
"You always struggle with whether the decision you make goes with where
the fish are. We got the highest number of days on the ocean that we could
squeeze out," she says.
Her theory is that having some salmon, rather than none at all, would pacify
consumers. The wild Pacific salmon season is open in May from Pigeon Point and
south; in June from Point Sur and south. In May and June, when salmon coalesce
at Point Arena and north, those fishing grounds will be closed.
From July 4 through August, the season is open from Point Arena (
In short, the commercial fleet will be kept far away from where most of the
fish will be. Because of the high price of diesel fuel, many fishers will sit
out the season.
"We hope people will still want to buy them in the store. We hope
they're not too expensive, or we'll lose the market we started getting back
(from farmed salmon)," Emley says.
Experts estimate that the regulations will affect price, point of sale and
freshness of the fish. With the fishery confined to the south, most boats will
not make the return trip to harbors in
Emley says she will not return to
More frozen salmon
Most fishers anticipate that boats will unload their catch either in
For retailers like Ted Iijima, fish department manager for Berkeley Bowl who
has often bought his fish directly off the boats, that means higher cost and
fish that aren't quite as fresh.
Iijima expects to sell a lot of frozen local salmon from last year, as well
as frozen salmon from
More than ever, it's important for consumers to ask where fish are caught,
whether they have been previously frozen, and to work with a reputable
fishmonger. Last month, some
"If people in
There are many unknowns about this season, especially for Fish's Callahan and
his new boat and crew, who are first-timers in a way of life most people are
leaving. "We're going out on the days we're allowed to go, and fish as much
as we can," he says.
Callahan, like others, says one of the best strategies for wild-salmon-
hungry consumers may be to befriend recreational fisherpeople, who are not
restricted by the same rules, or to go catch your own. Then freeze the fish
carefully, wrapping it in good waxed paper and plastic wrap, then sealing and
wrapping again. The goal is to slow the formation of ice crystals on the flesh.
Salmon frozen at home is best eaten within three months, he says.
Callahan hopes to stockpile his catch for Fish's retail market and restaurant
by freezing it and by making hot-smoked salmon. Here are four of his recipes,
which work well with both fresh and frozen salmon.
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Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/04/FDGBICGTKQ1.DTL