What's next What: The Pacific Fishery Management Council. When: All day Monday through Friday. Where: Doubletree Hotel Sacramento, 2001 Point West Way, Sacramento, Calif. Main agenda: The approval of options for the 2007 sport and commercial ocean salmon seasons. Council contacts: PFMC, 7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 101, Portland, OR 97220-1384. Phone: (866) 806-7204. Fax: (503) 820-2299. Online: www.pcouncil.org Council options: Will be presented and discussed at the March meeting of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. When: The meeting starts at 8 a.m. March 16. Where: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife headquarters, 3406 Cherry Avenue NE (the northeast corner of Cherry and Salem Parkway, access off Cherry).

Better salmon returns should lengthen season

Commercial fishermen likely to have more options

Henry Miller
Statesman Journal

March 4, 2007

In 2006, the trip to the Pacific Fishery Management Council meetings about salmon seasons were something of a death march.

And although it's not exactly a Mardi Gras parade that will be rolling into Sacramento, Calif., on Monday, metaphorically speaking, the salmon situation is vastly improved.

And so is the mood of the participants and attendees at the council meetings.

"The outlook is much better than last year," said Curt Melcher, the assistant Fish Division administrator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who is one of those who will be there.

"We'll be looking at similar recreational seasons with probably a larger coho quota," he added about offshore sport seasons. "And on the commercial side, we'll definitely be looking at significantly more commercial salmon opportunity on the ocean.

"As to exactly what that's going to look like, I won't know until next week."

The council will hold a weeklong series of meetings at the Doubletree Hotel about a host of marine issues including halibut, bottomfish and salmon.

At the end of the week, council members will approve a list of options for ocean sport and commercial salmon season.

In 2006, the driver of the seasons was the abysmal return of adult nonhatchery chinook spawners on the Klamath River in Northern California.

Because those protected fish mingle with healthy hatchery stocks, and the wild Klamath run was below the trigger point for protection, the anemic run ended up shutting down almost all commercial ocean fishing in California and the southern half of Oregon.

"The forecast this year is for 530,000," Melcher said about the predicted return to the Klamath. "And I think last year the combined forecast was for less than 100,000."

Unless you attend the hearings, the first major opportunity to hear about the options, and comment about them, will be the March 16 meeting of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission in Salem.

Then there will be a series of public meetings to collect more public comments before final season-setting meetings are held.

hmiller@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6725