Senator Doug Whitsett: Klamath Farmer - Coastal Fishermen Meeting In Merrill

The Klamath Basin farmers, and the Coastal salmon fishermen, met in Merrill once again this weekend. We talked about water and salmon issues at a town hall meeting Friday night, shared a breakfast hosted by the Klamath Water Users Association at Pappy Ganders Saturday morning, and then met for nearly two hours of conversation with Congressman Greg Walden and Ron Saxton at the Merrill Civic Center . The fishermen shared a float with the farmers in the Potato Festival Parade and a few fishermen stayed to be hosted at a Republican fund raiser that evening.

Five parts of the fishermens’ discussion really caught my attention.

First, they described how the much reported coastal “dead zone” is something that has occurred virtually every year for decades. They described how it normally varies in size and location and how it is caused by normal coastal currents. They explained how it results in upwelling of the deep water that provides the nutrients that make our Pacific coastal fishery productive.

Second, the fishermen described how they were only allowed to fish for about twenty days, in a single narrow zone off Coos Bay where the “dead zone” was centered this season. They were not allowed to fish along the productive edges of the upwelling zone where the salmon are found. It should be no surprise that their salmon fishing season was not too successful.

Third, the whiting fish harvest, licensed by NOAA fisheries, landed 200,000 metric tons of white fish this season. Their “by catch”, or accidental harvest, included some 13,000 salmon. Those salmon were sold at Oregon ports while our salmon fishing fleet was tied to the dock. Commercial fishermen were fortunate to land 350 salmon during their entire short season.

Fourth, the fishermen described an extremely successful voluntary salmon propagation program called the Salmon Trout Enhancement Program. In this STEP plan, volunteer commercial and sport fishermen produce millions of salmon and trout fry in small hatchery boxes along the banks of streams, usually on private property. They harvest eggs from wild stock to maintain genetic diversity. The fry are released all along the streams mimicking the natural spawning beds. In their wisdom, our Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has virtually restricted and regulated this program out of existence.

Their reason, incredibly, is because it puts too many fish in the streams.

Finally, the largest Sacramento River fall Chinook salmon run in history swam past the Southern Oregon and Northern California coasts while our salmon fishing fleet was tied to the docks. You read that right! The fishermen were not allowed to fish because some biologist bureaucrat decided that fishing this huge Sacramento salmon run would somehow cause jeopardy to a few Klamath River salmon.

Talk about déjà vu! In 2001 a bureaucrat decided that farmers could not use the water in a full Klamath Lake to irrigate. In 2006 a bureaucrat decided that our salmon fishing friends could not fish in an ocean full of salmon.

It is time for a change in leadership. It is time to replace the biologist bureaucrats. It is time to enlist the help of our fishermen and farmers in the management of our natural resources. It is long past time to realize that government is not the solution, to understand that government is the problem.

Ballots are already in our hands. We have the potential votes to elect an Oregon governor that will make the changes required to restore the economic stability and vitality of our natural resource industries. If we fail to vote, fail to elect Ron Saxton, we have only ourselves to blame.

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Klamath Farmer - Coastal Fishermen Meeting In Merrill, What We Learned