Salmon season set in stone:
Sport fishing gets best opportunity in years 04/16/2010
From the Eureka Times-Standard
Northern California ocean salmon anglers will get plenty of time on the water this year, and some commercial fishing will be allowed after being shut down for the past two years.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council made final decisions on West Coast salmon fisheries on Thursday in Portland, Ore., after wrestling with how best to protect the recently struggling salmon runs of the Sacramento River. The options chosen, the council believes, will provide a substantial buffer against over fishing.
In the Eureka, Trinidad and Crescent City areas, sport fishermen will get to fish from May 29 through Sept. 6, which covers the three major summer holidays. They can keep two fish a day, seven days a week. The season is a drastic improvement on last year's token fishery, which was 10 days long.
”It'll mean the best salmon fishing opportunity we've had in this century,” said Klamath Management Zone Fisheries Coalition representative Ben Doane.
Only 2005 and 2007 have been comparable, he said. A number of factors -- including the impact of commercial fishing, fishing in more northern waters and a strong expected run in the Klamath -- were behind an improvement over earlier expectations for the season, Doane said.
Sportfishing advocates at the PFMC pushed to allow the ocean season to cover the three main holidays to allow local retailers and the service industry to reap the benefits of people coming into the area to fish, Doane said.
Sport fishermen on the Klamath River have again been dealt a large quota, this time 10,250 salmon.
The commercial fishing season is more complicated, combining both dates and quotas. The PFMC settled on a unique season that should allow 180,000 chinook salmon to return to the Sacramento River in the fall and some 40,700 salmon to return to the Klamath River, another protected stock.
But the formula may make it difficult for salmon fishermen to make money this year, after two years of closures in which federal disaster aid kept them afloat. The entire California coast will be open July 1 to 4 and July 8 to 11. Then the fishery moves entirely to the Fort Bragg area. Fishing will be allowed from July 15 to 29, or until 18,000 salmon are caught. The month of August is open in the Fort Bragg area until 9,375 fish are caught.
There has never been a season exclusively off Fort Bragg, and fishery managers expect commercial fishing boats to pack into the area -- which is why a quota was set.
Eureka fisherman Dave Bitts, president of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said that the reason behind the fishery was to prevent harm to both the Sacramento and Klamath rivers' stocks while allowing the most fishing. That fishing, however, isn't much. Bitts estimated the fleet stands to catch only 500,000 pounds of salmon.
”It will mean nobody makes a dime,” Bitts said.
Tackle dealers have been fielding inquiries from sport fishermen wondering what the final word would be from Portland. Dan Gilkey with Englund Marine Supply Co. in Eureka said that salmon season has traditionally been the shop's busiest time, but that the recent salmon seasons have been poor. He said a few people have come in to buy tackle recently, and he expects business to pick up once customers know the season is official.
Gilkey said he's excited for the start of a good season.
”That sounds great to us,” Gilkey said. “That's back where it ought to be.”
