When last week started, the prospect of the best salmon return in a decade was California”s big ocean story.
Then came the tsunami.
Tommy Ancona, who was in northern Washington when federal regulators proposed the first commercial salmon fishing season in many years for California, came home to the big surge from Japan at his South Noyo River front business. The wave surge may have undone some of the good news for the local economy that a big salmon return would mean, Ancona said. The Noyo Harbor Commission member said the damage to the docks and loss of berths from the wave could cut into the amount of salmon boats that can moor in Noyo, just when salmon boats might finally come back.
“We might get fishing boats wanting to come and we won”t have a place for them in the mooring basin,” he said.
Noyo Harbor had 253 berths before the tidal surge damaged more than two dozen berths, with a final count still underway. The occupancy rate was about 75 percent, with hopes for more this summer, said Harbormaster Jere Klenbach.
A wave that originated 5,100 miles away is not the only reminder at how the world shares and depends on oceans.
“Japan is one of the biggest importers of seafood in the world. A catastrophe like that on the other side of the world can be felt here in Fort Bragg in more ways than one,” Ancona said.
The ocean”s tastiest tourists are headed home to all the rivers of California. Predictions are for the biggest wave of king salmon to return to California waters will mean healthy commercial and recreational fishing seasons for the first time since 2005.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council last week released three proposals, with plans to pick one at its next meeting in San Mateo on April 9 through 14. All three would mean dramatic increases in salmon fishing over the lows of the past five years.
Sport salmon season opens Saturday, April 2, regardless of which alternative is chosen; good news for local charter boats and other recreational fishermen. The sport alternatives close the season in either mid-September, mid-October or mid-November, depending on which of the three proposals is chosen.
There was a similarly long sport season last year, but few fish to catch. This year, the prediction is for seven times as many salmon as actually arrived last year. Last year”s prediction at this same point turned out to be twice as big as the reality. Fishermen are taking a wait-and-see approach before deciding whether the predictions are reality or another fish story. Predictions are based on surveys of salmon that return a year early.
An even bigger deal is for commercial hook-and-line troller fishing to open in the area off Fort Bragg (from Cape Mendocino to Point Arena) for August and September, which all three proposals call for. Commercial salmon fishing off Fort Bragg has been virtually closed or entirely closed in each of the past four years. Commercial fishing could also get quota fishing in June and July, under two of the options. Much longer commercial fishing seasons would be allowed south of Point Arena. Some fishermen interviewed said boats are likely to moor further south than in Noyo.
The demise of commercial fishing out of Fort Bragg has been a tale of the non-sequential and mostly unrelated serious problems in two great river systems.
Commercial fishing off Fort Bragg was greatly restricted in 2006 and 2007 because of low numbers of salmon returning to Klamath River. The Klamath bounced back after dam diversions were brought under control. Then to everyone”s surprise, from fishermen to biologists, in 2008 the Sacramento River salmon return, which had steadily fed California for a generation, crashed. That caused a controversial commercial closure that year. Then, in 2009, some 122,000 of the fish were predicted to return to the Sacramento River. Instead, a shocking record-low 39,500 chinook returned, down from more than 750,000 counted in 2002. The numbers were so low, the closing the local commercial season for the second year in a row wasn”t really controversial; there simply weren”t fish to catch or spawn. Problems were blamed mostly on the ocean, although many fishermen insisted that over-development and agricultural water diversions in the delta were to blame.
Last year, a short commercial season was allowed.
The Sacramento River system is projected to see 729,900 fall chinook return this year. The Klamath River system is projected to see 371,100, up from 331,500 a year before.
The only reason commercial fishing north of Point Arena is restricted to just two months in the three proposals is out of concern for coho salmon from Oregon, which might be inadvertently caught. Hearings are scheduled for March 28 in Westport, Washington and Coos Bay, Oregon; and for March 29 in Eureka. The PFMC will consult with scientists, hear public comment, and can fine tune these preliminary proposals until it chooses a final alternative at its meeting during the week of April 9 in San Mateo. At that meeting, the Council will choose a single season recommendation to be forwarded to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for its final approval before May 1.
For more information, go to the Pacific Fishery Management Council webpage, http://www.pcouncil.org and http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/salmonpreseason.asp for California salmon information and process.
Email Frank Hartzell at frankhartzell@gmail.com.
