Lean Times for Salmon Fishermen
By Brad Knickerbocker, The Christian Science Monitor
March 10, 2006

ASHLAND, ORE. – It's looking like a bleak, belt- tightening year for thousands of commercial fishermen along the Pacific Coast. From Point Sur in California to Cape Falcon in Oregon - 700 miles in all - the skippers and crew of some 2,000 boats are likely to have to forgo salmon, their main money fish.

That's because of plummeting fish runs in the Klamath River and what's expected to be an order by federal officials that commercial and sport salmon fishing be closed. Some boats will continue to bring in dungeness crab, herring, albacore tuna, and other seafood. But they count on succulent chinook salmon for 70 percent of their income.

"Year in, year out, salmon is the one that they depend upon," says Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations in San Francisco, which represents organizations from San Diego to Alaska. "It's their anchor fishery."

Salmon fishing off the coast of California and Oregon is a $150 million a year industry, on average. And while coastal towns like Newport, Ore., have seen fish canneries replaced by tourist attractions (Keiko the killer whale lived at the aquarium there for several years), sport-fishing charter boats, restaurants, and motels could be impacted as well.

If approved, this would be one of the most extensive fishery shutdowns on the Pacific Coast.

From its headwaters in southern Oregon, the Klamath River flows southwest to the sea in northern California. It once was one of the most productive rivers in North America. But in recent decades, its annual salmon runs have fallen to a small fraction of their historic numbers.

As with the Columbia River Basin to the north, many culprits are involved, most recognized only in hindsight. And like many natural-resource issues in the West, the Klamath River situation reflects the longstanding political and scientific challenges of balancing environmental, economic, and political interests.

Those challenges began a century ago with Teddy Roosevelt's decision to "reclaim" the vast wetlands of the Klamath River Basin by building irrigation systems that would attract homesteading farmers and ranchers. This was followed by construction of four power-generating dams, as well as increasing concern about endangered species. Another complicating factor has been the treaty rights of Indian tribes near the mouth of the Klamath and at the river's headwaters.

Throw in a couple of recent drought years, and the result has been too much demand on too little water. Over the years, salmon runs plummeted to 4 percent of their historic numbers, largely due to reduced river flows, which cause warmer waters and fish-killing diseases. During this period, when the commercial fishing season periodically was cut short, 80 percent of the salmon fleet went out of business.

In Seattle this week, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the federal agency that monitors the well-being of oceangoing species, predicted that this year's Klamath River salmon run would fall below the minimum for conservation (35,000 fish returning from the Pacific to the river to spawn). NMFS recommended that the fishery be closed this season, a decision expected to be followed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, one of eight regional councils established by Congress to manage fisheries up to 200 miles offshore.

Coincidentally, the controversy over closing the salmon fishery this year comes just as government regulators are deciding whether to renew federal licenses for the four hydropower dams on the lower Klamath River, the first built in 1917, the last in 1962. The dams are operated by PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of energy giant Scottish Power in Glasgow.

None of these dams has fish passage devices, which means that 350 miles of historic salmon-spawning habitat in the river and its tributary streams were cut off. The dams also create reservoirs, which warm the water. Adding to the problem are the pollution and turbidity caused by runoff from farming, ranching, and logging - mainstays of the region's economy.

Irrigators are eager to keep the dams operating - not because they bring water to farmers' fields (which they don't) but because they charge low power rates to pump the water from canals and wells. Compared to modern gas-fired generators, the dams on the Klamath provide a relatively small amount of power for the electrical grid. But county governments in the largely rural area fear the loss of an important part of their tax base if the dams are removed.

As old dams around the country come up for license renewal, many have been taken out because new restrictions on their design and operation have made them uneconomical. That's what dam opponents here would like to see happen.

"If we don't remove dams now, there won't be any salmon left the next time the dams are relicensed," says Michael Belchik, fisheries biologist with the Yurok Tribe in Weitchpec, Calif.

Salmon like cool, clear water and gravel beds in which to spawn. The manipulated environment resulting from the dams has made the migrating fish (both adults returning to spawn and juveniles headed out to sea) more vulnerable to disease and parasites.

In 2002 and 2003, more than 80 percent of juvenile chinook died before reaching the end of the river and open ocean waters.

"If we're going to save this river, we're going to have to do two things, and we have to do them soon," says Glen Spain, northwest regional director for the fishermen's federation. "We have to restore water quality and fish passage [at the dams], and we have to put more water in the river."

If they aren't able to troll for salmon this year, officials in Seattle said this week, fishermen are likely to be eligible for federal disaster relief.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.

Imagine A Year Without Local Salmon
By Stacy Finz & Glen Martin, San Francisco Chronicle
March 3, 2006

Fresh, wild California king salmon will be in short supply this season if federal regulators decide to ban catching the fish along 700 miles of coastline from Monterey to the Oregon border in an attempt to restore the ailing fishery on the Klamath River.

The possibility of the prohibition has fishermen, retailers, restaurateurs and consumers contemplating alternatives to the fish that many of them say has defined California cuisine.

"It's a really luscious fish,'' said Bruce Hill, chef-owner of Picco restaurant in Larkspur and part owner of Bix in San Francisco. "It's high in essential fatty acids, which are good for you. And Californians know that.''

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, an advisory committee for federal fishing regulators, is scheduled to meet next week in Seattle to come up with three options to present to the public before making its final recommendation to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency is expected to issue a ruling by late April, before the season is scheduled to open.

One of those options, said Chuck Tracy, a salmon expert for the council, "will surely be ... a total ban. As far as I know, it would be the first one ever."

Other options include shortening the season and allowing fishing only on some parts of the coast, he said.

A ban on fishing for king salmon, also known as chinook, could cost fishermen, processors and retailers $100 million or more, said Glen Spain, northwest regional director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, a commercial fishing interest group. Last year, fishing interests suffered at least $40 million in losses when the season was cut in half because of declining numbers of Klamath River salmon.

The Klamath fishery is in trouble because of low flows and high water temperatures, Spain said. Warmer water kills fish and encourages a parasite that ravages mature salmon and young smolts, he said.

The Klamath's woes came to a head in 2002, when such conditions killed thousands of mature fish. Now, Spain said, the Klamath's runs are on a downward spiral as a result of water diversions for farming and four dams that "heat up the water like a bathtub."

"Biologists figure the river needs 35,000 spawning salmon annually to maintain populations," he said. "This year, we're below 30,000."

Mike Hudson, a Berkeley fisherman whose wife, Yvette, sells his salmon at farmers' markets in the East Bay, said an outright ban would put the couple out of business.

"We just spent $50,000 on equipment," said Hudson, who is president of the Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermen's Association in California. "Now we may have to find new professions. The whole industry will collapse."

Fisheries advocates say the situation is bitterly ironic, because salmon fans should be celebrating a banner year. The Sacramento River runs are near record levels. Everyone from commercial trollers to recreational moochers, from haute cuisine chefs to backyard barbecuers should be looking forward to a season of abundance.

"We've rebuilt the Sacramento runs over a decade through habitat restoration and increased flows, and this is the time people should be reaping the rewards," said Barry Nelson, a senior policy adviser for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It's a tragedy that everyone now has to suffer because of the situation on the Klamath."

But because Klamath and Sacramento River fish mingle freely in the ocean, fishermen can't troll for Sacramento salmon without the possibility of hooking a Klamath fish, Spain said.

Last year, when the catch was down by 160,000 fish, Paul Johnson, owner of the Monterey Fish Market in Berkeley, watched retail salmon prices increase by $2 per pound. At the same time, he said, he's seen the demand for fresh, wild salmon grow tenfold.

"People have really become educated about not buying the farm-raised,'' he said. "It's the wild salmon that has defined local cuisine."

Johnson suspects that demand will go down if the fish keeps going up in price or if it's coming from anywhere other than California.

"My customers know the difference and like the fact that it's local," he said. Alaska salmon, according to Johnson, is not the same quality as California's king salmon.

Parke Ulrich, executive chef for Farallon restaurant in San Francisco, which specializes in seafood, said patrons would sorely miss the California fish.

"It's one of the great local products," he said. "Tourists see all the water and say, 'Where is all the local fish?'

"If there is a ban, Ulrich said, the restaurant has a good contact for Alaska salmon and will use it. He said the Alaska king season lasts from May until July, sockeye from June to August and coho from August until October, which will cover the restaurant for the summer salmon rush. Alaska's sockeye is considered by many to be the most delicate and delicious of the salmon family, Ulrich said. He described Alaska's coho salmon as a lighter fish than the king with slightly lower fat content but a similar flavor.

Ulrich said he's sure other restaurants would vie for Alaska's fish. He expects prices to soar. Farmed salmon, many chefs and retailers say, is not an alternative because the way the fish are raised degrades the coast and the species.

Hill, the Larkspur chef, said farmed salmon often are missing gills and have misshapen heads.

"As a cook seeing it on a cutting board, it just doesn't look right," he said.

He'll miss California's wild salmon if there is a ban. About a quarter of the diners at Bix order it when it's featured on the menu, he said, and at Picco, 20 percent of his clientele like a salmon appetizer or entree.

"But it won't be the end of the world," he said. "I'll look at other fish or perhaps an interesting vegetable dish as a replacement.''

Nelson, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the situation on the Klamath can be reversed, allowing the return of an abundant salmon harvest. But he said it will take commitment and money from the public and private sectors.

"We restored the Sacramento fishery, we're trying to do the same on the San Joaquin River," he said, "and we can certainly restore the Klamath. We just have to be willing to give the fish the cold water and the spawning habitat they need."

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.