Salmon Fishermen Rally for Aid
By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press
April 11, 2006

COOS BAY, Ore. -- Hundreds of salmon fishermen rallied on the Oregon coast Monday, calling for federal disaster relief to help them weather a fishing closure brought on by declining spawning success in the troubled Klamath River.

About 400 fishermen and their supporters turned out on the Coos Bay Board Walk, where Oregon Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio and Darlene Hooley said legislation would be introduced after the April recess to provide disaster assistance for salmon fishermen as well as money to improve spawning success on the Klamath. An additional 100 people rallied in Newport, aides said.

"Four years ago, when they were diverting water out of the Klamath River to try to provide something for the farms in a drought year, a very generous package (for farmers) was forthcoming," from Congress, said DeFazio. "We feel fishers are farmers of the sea. You're putting food on the table, too."

After strong direction from NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency that overseas salmon restoration and ocean fisheries, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted last week to practically shut down commercial salmon fishing along 700 miles of coast off Oregon and California.

The decision still must be approved by the secretary of commerce. The seasons call for no commercial salmon fishing within the 400 miles between Florence and Fort Bragg, Calif., with limited openings south to Point Sur, Calif., and north to Cape Falcon. Recreational fishing also was cut back, but not so severely.

The closure was prompted by projections that wild chinook salmon from the Klamath River would return to spawn in numbers below minimums set by federal fisheries managers for the third year in a row.

DeFazio noted that NOAA Fisheries denied a disaster declaration for salmon fishermen last year, when projections of poor returns to the Klamath prompted less stringent reductions in salmon fishing. He said he and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., are filing a Freedom of Information Act request for records leading to the decision to deny the disaster declaration.

"We need a disaster declaration this year," DeFazio said. "We need it pronto."

Michelle St. Martin, spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, last week praised the fisheries council for basing its decision on science and involving diverse parties. "Species conservation is rarely easy and oftentimes involves sacrifice on the part of one or more groups in our society," she said.

Klamath chinook are not endangered. Though returns from California's Sacramento Basin and other watersheds are plentiful this year, harvesting them would likely take some Klamath fish, and federal fisheries managers are concerned that returns are already dangerously low.

Charleston salmon fisherman Paul Merz tied his salmon troller, the Joanne, up at the dock adjoining the rally site, with a sail printed with the message "Fix The Klamath" in big red letters.

"This is not a new disaster," said Merz, who also serves on the board of the Coos Watershed Association representing fishermen. "Fishermen, scientists and management people know what needs to be done. Everybody can have a business if we find a middle suggested that fishermen be paid $2,000 per foot of their boats, so that the owner of a 40-foot boat would get $80,000. That would allow them to keep up with the cost of boat payments, maintenance, safety equipment and other expenses so they will be able to fish when things improve.

Fish Rally Draws Hundreds
By Susan Chambers, World Link
April 11, 2006

Under an unsettled sky Monday, salmon industry supporters rallied around a clear message: Fishermen need help and the Klamath River needs long-term support. U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio and Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., organized the event that brought about 250 people to the Boardwalk in Coos Bay - more than the 80 or so that gathered in Newport Monday morning. Many carried signs.

Some of those signs carried messages against farmed fish, many pleaded for help for fishermen. Some of the supporters waved American flags as cars drove by and honked."Our fisheries deserve more," DeFazio said during his opening comments. "They deserve better."

Oregon commercial fishermen between Florence and the California border are left without a season this year after the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted last week to forgo a season to protect Klamath River fall Chinook. The decision came after the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency that must ultimately approve the council's recommendations, announced prior to the meeting that it would approve only a season that allowed for bare minimum impacts on Klamath River fish.

It was that guidance that clearly irked state Sen. Joanne Verger, D-Coos Bay. The NMFS guidance letter came after a March fishery council meeting in which three options were proposed. Two of the options allowed for limited fishing; the third option was closure. Though fishermen at a public hearing in Coos Bay supported the fishing options, the federal agency urged the council to more closely examine the no-fishing option.

It appeared as if the decision was made before public input, Verger said. "Why did I bother to write letters?" Verger said. "Why did I make phone calls?" It's just plain arrogance on the part of the federal government to assume a season - or in this case, no season - before hearing from its constituents, she remarked. "We must continue our fight against this kind of arrogance," Verger said. And the crowd responded with applause.

The Klamath situation is murky, though not to the participants at the rally. Much of the water is diverted to farms and for power, some of the water from its tributaries also is used for power generation in Central California. A drought for several years exacerbated the problem. Fish died as the water level dropped, leaving them vulnerable to increasing populations of parasites and more disease.

The result, three and four years later, is restricted fishing for much of Oregon and no commercial season for fishermen from Brookings to Winchester Bay.

DeFazio said he believed, personally, that there was sufficient information and fish to allow fishing this year, but it was a decision made at NMFS headquarters in Washington, D.C., that prevented that option. It was also the U.S. Department of Commerce, the parent agency of the fisheries service, that decided it would not declare the fishery a failure last year. And that should change this year, DeFazio said.

"We need a disaster declaration this year. Pronto," DeFazio said. "And it should be followed by real money." Again, the crowd applauded.

Fishermen have repeatedly argued in favor of direct payments, something that traditionally hasn't been done. Federal relief funding often takes the form of retraining programs or alternative jobs programs.

DeFazio said after the rally that Alaska, though, set a precedent. It wasn't long ago that fishermen were paid directly after the Department of Commerce declared one of Alaska's fisheries an economic failure. "We're using that as a framework," DeFazio said.

Members of the congressional delegations from Oregon and California are prepared to submit a request for funding in a supplemental appropriations bill currently in the Senate. It would have happened last week, but Congress adjourned early, DeFazio said, noting that on the Senate side, Democrats Ron Wyden, from Oregon, and Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, from California, are on board with the plan.

The initial plan calls for immediate relief for the fishing industry. Long-term goals include help for the Klamath River.

Port Orford fisherman Aaron Longton, wearing a "Mad Cow, Happy Fish" T-shirt, urged the crowd to support the federal relief efforts. "We need help getting through the hard times," he said. The no-salmon season already is affecting the community.

Hallmark Fisheries production manager Scott Adams said he has a storage room full of boxes for packing wild Chinook salmon - a marketing program the company set up years ago to capitalize on the high-quality fish. The company pays fishermen thousands of dollars in Port Orford alone for their wild king salmon and more in Coos Bay, Winchester Bay and Brookings.

"What am I going to do with all those boxes?" he said.

Suppliers, too, have seen a drop in business. As trollers get ready for the season that usually starts in the spring, businesses such as Basin Tackle, Englund Marine Supply and George's Marine Electronics see an upswing in preparations. Waiting lists to get into shipyards to do maintenance work are the norm.

But not this year. "We've been going for days without any activity in our till at all," George's Marine Electronics' Brenda Kerkman said at the rally. "We're not able to sell electronics or do repairs."

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