Forecast Points to Better Season for Fishermen
By Peter Sleeth, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
Feb. 16–The commercial chinook salmon season off Oregon’s coast is looking brighter this year, after one of the worst fishing disasters in 2006, according to preseason estimates.
Continuing problems with declining numbers of salmon in the Klamath River idled much of the commercial fleet last year.
This year, however, the good news is there is expected to be more than 500,000 Klamath River salmon in the ocean, which is five times last year’s estimate. Additionally, about 60,000 wild fish are expected to return to the river to spawn, far above the minimum of 35,000 returning spawners.
That will mean more days on the water for fishermen, who last year were restricted to less than a month of fishing days in total.
“I think it is going to be better, at least in terms of opportunity,” said Chuck Tracy with the Pacific Fishery Management Council.
The bad news is most of the Klamath salmon are 3-year-olds and will be too small to catch and keep, he said, under the 27-inch limit.
In the complex world of salmon and fisheries regulation, much remains unclear about the coming season. While Klamath River salmon will be smaller, it is salmon from the Sacramento River in California and the Columbia River that compose much of the catch off Oregon. If those fish are in abundance, and big enough, it could lead to a better year for commercial trollers.
Preseason estimates show Sacramento River fish in the ocean will be down about 20 percent this year. Numbers for Columbia River fish were not available Thursday.
“It’s not going to be a good season; we’re not going to be fishing wide open,” said Kevin Bastien, a commercial troller out of Newport. “But we’re going to have a little better season than last year.”
The season normally opens for commercial and recreational fishermen alike on March 15, meaning a decision on whether to open the season has to be made by the first week in March. Tracy said the council will likely make that decision before its meeting scheduled for March 5-9 in Sacramento.
Last year, the federal government allowed a limited ocean salmon season that saved most of the recreational fishing industry while severely crimping the commercial fleet from Northern California up most of the Oregon Coast. The recreational fishing season is considered critical to the coastal economy. Visiting tourists fill hotels and restaurants when they come to charter fishing boats.
In 2006, the limited commercial season began June 4 and allowed staggered days that entailed fishing for a few days, then taking a few off, then returning to the ocean. Most of August was closed.
The limited season south of the Manzanita area was designed to protect Klamath River fall chinook salmon, expected to return to the river in dangerously low numbers. The Klamath suffers from a litany of problems, including dams without fish passages, low water flows because of irrigation withdrawals and bacteria that kill young fish.
Fisheries biologists strive to keep at least 35,000 naturally spawning salmon returning to the Klamath for the fall run. Last year that number was expected to drop to about 21,000 returning fish, but in fact turned out to be about 30,000 returning fish.
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez announced a long-awaited disaster declaration for salmon trollers in Oregon and California last year — a step that came with no money. Since then, repeated efforts by Oregon and California congressional delegations to pass legislation for emergency funding have come up empty.
Oregon, however, put together a small pool of money that was distributed last year.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
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