A salmon fishing purse seiner. Tentative approval was given to an Oregon chinook season for the first time in two years. (Photo: Wdfw.wa.gov)

Officials wary about West Coast salmon season

UNITED STATES
Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 21:40 (GMT + 9)

California's commercial salmon season might open for a few days, despite worries that it might threaten depleted salmon runs.
 
In addition to restoring a commercial chinook season in California, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) also gave tentative approval on Monday to an Oregon commercial and sport chinook season along the full coastline for the first time in two years.

The council, which includes officials from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California, is meeting this week in Portland to set policy and management plans for West Coast fisheries. But what filled a hotel ballroom Monday was discussion of its salmon management plan, which comes in the wake of stronger salmon populations—and lingering concern over the Sacramento River Basin chinook, which also makes up most of Oregon's ocean catch.

The plan was rare positive news to coastal communities, which have received USD 170 million in federal disaster relief over the last two years to help cope with fishing losses.

"Most of our coast communities have very fragile economies," said Jim Relaford, a Brookings Harbor port commissioner in southern Oregon, AP reports. "We make it April to October and struggle to make it the other six months. The opportunity for a fishing community to have fishing is so important."

The salmon plan, which will be adjusted before being formally approved Thursday, is tempered by caution for those who depend on salmon for their livelihood or recreational experiences.

Oregon and Washington will have full May-to-September seasons, but their coho catches will be restricted because of expected low returns. There will be no commercial fishing for coho off Oregon's central and southern coast.

And even though they recommended resuming commercial chinook fishing in California, fishery authorities also asked the council to prepare wording for an emergency closure if the predicted fish don't turn up.

Commercial and sport fishing were closed off California's coast the past two years. The closure reached up to southern and central Oregon.

Sacramento River Basin chinook runs have plummeted yearly from 769,868 chinook counted in 2002. Just 39,000 fall chinook returned to the basin last year after the council predicted 122,000.

The council estimated 245,000 fall-run chinook could return this year. Therefore, it has tentatively approved a few weeks of commercial and sport openings from Horse Mountain, Calif., south of Eureka, to the Mexican border.

Sme worried the prediction was too high, and that commercial fishing perhaps should wait for proof that the basin's chinook have recovered strongly.

By Denise Recalde
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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