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Commercial salmon fishing closed, very limited sport season allowed

Posted by: Maven on April 24, 2009 at 7:52 am

From Dan Bacher:

Ocean salmon fishing will be limited this year to a 10-day recreational season off California’s North Coast in late August and early September, while salmon fishing in the Central Valley will be restricted to a short stretch of the Sacramento River from November 16 through December 31.

The Pacific Fishery Managemement Council (PFMC) closed all commercial salmon fishing off California and Southern Oregon during their meeting in Millbrae on April 8, due to the collapse of the Sacramento River fall run Chinook salmon population.

The adoption of closed and severely restricted salmon seasons in California prompted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to issue a proclamation on April 21 declaring a state of emergency in California and to send a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke asking for his support in obtaining federal disaster assistance.

The only positive news is that recreational anglers will be able to fish for Chinook salmon in California ocean waters for the first time since 2007 when the 10 day season in the Klamath Management Zone (KMZ) of northern California and southern Oregon opens from August 29 through September 7. The PFMC approved the short season to target Klamath River Chinooks in California from the OR/CA border to Horse Mountain, just south of the Mattole River mouth, and in Oregon from Humbug Mountain to the OR/CA border.

Anglers will be allowed to take two Chinooks over 24 inches per day in this area during the season. The season is still subject to approval by the National Marine Fisheries Service. With the exception of the ten-day North Coast season, recreational salmon fishing off the California coast will be closed for the second year in a row.

As recently as 2002, 775,000 adults returned to spawn in Central Valley rivers. Last year, 66,200 fall run Chinook returned to the Sacramento. “About 122,100 fish are forecast to return this year—twice last year’s returns but still not enough to support commercial and recreational Chinook fisheries,” said Don McIssac, executive director of the PFMC.

“If the weather cooperates during the 10 day period, this will be a boon to the North Coast economy,” said Jim Martin, West Coast Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance. “The theory behind having a season at this time is that it is late enough in the season that Sacramento Chinooks will have already passed through the region.”

The season was proposed by the Klamath Management Zone Fishery Coalition, a bi-state coalition, and Humboldt Area Saltwater Anglers, a group affiliated with RFA. “The season timing was designed around minimizing impacts to Sacramento River Chinooks,” said Ben Doane, who is on the board of both organizations. “The season will be based on an ocean abundance of 474,000 3-year-old Klamath Chinooks. The projected impact upon Sacramento River stocks this year would be 26 Chinook, including 18 in California and 8 in Oregon.”

The fishing is expected to be productive, though the fish will not be as plentiful as they are in July and August. “However, the salmon caught this time of year tend to be the largest fish,” he said. “It’s a tradeoff.”

The season was crafted around two weekends so that charter boat operations, tackle stores, motels, r.v. parks and other businesses would benefit most from the short season.

Ports that anglers will be able to fish out of include Port Orford, Gold Beach, Brookings, Crescent City, Trinidad and Eureka. Anglers launching out of Shelter Cove will also be able to fish for salmon north of Horse Mountain, according to Doane.

Anglers are reminded that that there will be three exclusion zones where anglers cannot fish for salmon during this period (refer to Section 27.75 a, b & c of the DFG Ocean Sportfishing Regulations, http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/oceanfish2009.pdf).

In Oregon, anglers will also be able to participate in a selective coho salmon fishery from June 20 through the earlier of August 31 or an 110,000 marked coho quota for the area between Cape Falcon and the OR/CA border. “The ocean abundance of combined hatchery and wild coho is estimated to be 1.3 million in 2009,” noted Doane.

Meanwhile, the California Fish and Game Commission on April 21 voted to allow salmon fishing only on the Sacramento River between Knights Landing and the Lower Red Bluff Boat Ramp from November 16 and December 31. The bag limit is one Chinook salmon per day and in possession.

This season was reduced 2 weeks from last year’s 2-month season over fears that fall run Chinooks were being caught. The fishery targets late fall run Chinooks, a separate run of fish that is not considered to be in collapse. Salmon fishing in all other Central Valley rivers, including the American, Feather and Yuba, will be closed again this year.

The second year of fishery closures in California and southern Oregon will be devastating to coastal and inland fishing communities dependent upon the income generated by recreational and commercial fishing. Congress last year allocated $170 million in salmon disaster relief to keep fishing businesses afloat. It is expected that the $54 million of this aid that remains will be distributed this year, but more aid is needed to fully address the economic devastation caused by the salmon closures.

On April 21, Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency in California caused by the economic impact of the salmon closures. Schwarzenegger sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke asking for his support in obtaining federal disaster assistance for commercial and recreational salmon fishing businesses.

“California’s salmon are a vital resource that contributes greatly to our economy, our environment and our way of life,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “Today I am asking the federal government to make the necessary resources available to help the fishing industry cope with a second year of economic and recreational impacts.”

Schwarzenegger joined with Oregon Governor Kulongoski in sending a letter to Commerce Secretary Locke requesting a fishery resource disaster under the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 and a commercial fishery failure under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. salmon decline. For more information, go to http://www.pcouncil.org.

April 24, 2009 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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