Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, home now to less than 100 fishermen, had a two-year waiting list for a place at the docks in the 1970s, said longtime fisherman Wally Shattuck. Both fishermen and businesses like the fuel dock and nearby ice plant are facing a tough year due to a declining stock of salmon in the Klamath River. (Katie Mintz/The Daily Journal)

FORT BRAGG - Scott Hockett and Wally Shattuck, commercial fishermen from Fort Bragg, haven't caught one fish yet this summer despite reports that there are big salmon swimming by the buoys just outside Noyo Harbor.

Both planned to run their boats nearly 45 miles to Point Arena on Wednesday, the opening day for fishing along the approximate 150-mile stretch of coastline between Point Arena and Pigeon Point. There, they'll be able to keep 75 a fish a week.

The stringent restrictions, put in place by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, come as part of the federal government's effort to protect a dwindling stock of salmon in the Klamath River, hoping that more will return to spawn this fall.

Restrictions from the Klamath, which lets into the Pacific Ocean about 200 miles north of Fort Bragg, might unduly be affecting these local fishermen, according to Mendocino County Supervisor Kendall Smith who represents the Fourth District.

"The fishermen are caught between a rock and a hard place with respect to how they assess the stock in the ocean," Smith said. "They've got this merger of the Klamath River stock and the Sacramento River stock, and unfortunately the fisherman in the Fort Bragg area getting caught in that dynamic."

Sacramento River empties into the San Francisco Bay about 150 miles from Fort Bragg, and while most fishermen agree that there's no telling where the fish from either river will go, it seems recreational fisherman who are allowed to fish outside Noyo Harbor are making many catches of what are likely Sacramento salmon.

"Sport boats go out here everyday and they get their limits," Hockett said. "It would be easy to catch 75 fish in one day here, but we have to travel to Point Arena or below. I don't know what's down there."

Commercial fishermen like Hockett and Shattuck won't be able to fish near Fort Bragg until September, and then, they'll be limited to 30 fish a day per boat until 4,000 total are caught by all fishermen in that fishing area. Shattuck estimates that with the number of fisherman out there, each will end up with about 40 fish in the season starting in September, despite the fact that if no restrictions were in place, they would catch only about 2 percent of all Klamath salmon.

"All of the sudden, when they get a real low run, they want to call it overfishing, but they've been regulating us over that river for over 30 years," Shattuck said. He's watched the Klamath River oscillate since he began fishing out of Noyo Harbor when he was in junior high. "It's mismanagement, not overfishing."

The low population culminated from major fish kills in the river in 2002 when the Bush Administration diverted water to farmers in the Klamath Basin, Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, said.

"They drained the river and up to 80,000 fish died," Billy Forkner, another fisherman, said. "We don't want to see the run wiped out by any means, but if the government doesn't care, why are our livelihoods hanging in the balance on that river?"

Forkner, who's fished for 40 years, will head up to Oregon and Washington within the next week on his boat, Audrey, to fish for tuna through late summer instead of try his luck with the salmon limits. Still, he and other salmon trollers have attempted to take the issues into their own hands, filing a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the NOAA. The suit, Forkner said, is based on what they believe to be faulty science used by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which makes recommendations to the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding limitations. It also alleges that parts of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act specifying how economic impact on communities must be taken into consideration before limits are imposed were ignored.

"The first thing we're after is try to get our season restored," Forkner said. "We want this corrected somehow."

Hockett and Shattuck want the season back too.

"We don't want money, we just want to go fishing," Hockett said. At 25 years old, he's probably the youngest Fort Bragg fishermen, working to support his wife and 16-month-old daughter. "We need a season, not a handout."

A Small Business Administration outreach center opened in Fort Bragg last week, making low-interest loans available to businesses and fisherman affected by a limited fishing season, but most fisherman are skeptical about borrowing money.

"I don't want a loan, something I have to pay back," Hockett said. "How do you expect to pay it back when you don't have any money?"

For now, he is collecting unemployment and doing what he can to get his boat, Santa Anna, ready for the season. This year, he didn't buy new gear or put a fresh coat of paint on the vessel, the first time in the five years since he's been fishing out of Noyo Harbor.

Shattuck said he has already spent between $2,000 and $3,000 this year on maintenance, another $750 on fuel Wednesday and $150 a month for a place in the harbor.

"The season they gave us is break even at best," Shattuck said. "On a year like this, a guy should be able to make anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 right out front and not go below Point Arena."

Both state and federal legislators have worked to get some relief for the fisherman, but as of yet, without a federal disaster declaration beyond the fishery resource disaster called in April, they've had no luck. Berg told the Ukiah Daily Journal last week that she's hopeful the California State legislature will pass a bill making $5 million in grant money available when it reconvenes in August.

"Senator Wes Chesbro and Senator Sam Aanestad and I are introducing a bill on the Senate side, which is SB 1127, and that's the bill that will appropriate $5 million dollars in grants to fisherman," Berg said. "Because it's a partnership with the Governor and with bipartisan support, I'm sure we'll get it through and the Governor will sign it in August."

Berg and Smith, along with the fisherman, emphasized a need for restoration on the Klamath in addition to aid.

"I see that the biggest issue we're facing is coming up with some solutions on the Klamath itself, because otherwise it's going to kill our fishing industry," Berg said.

"It's all based on the one little river, the Klamath River," Shattuck said. "If they can't fix it, we'll never go fishing again, and I don't see any big rush to fix it."

Katie Mintz can be reached at udjkm@pacific.net.