Like the wild salmon themselves, the 2009 World”s Largest Salmon Barbecue suffered from a combination of weather, timing and inland human politics.
Cold lunchtime temperatures, an even chillier economy locally and in the primary draw areas of Sacramento and Santa Rosa, along with the date of this year”s event, all played a role in that decline.
With temperatures frigid until after 1 p.m. and Mendocino”s Fourth of July parade under way, ticket sales were sluggish until 2 p.m.
“The people there for the first three hours would have fit at about four tables,” said Salmon Restoration Association President Joe Janisch.
The National Weather Service reported a low temperature of 44 degrees on July 4, reaching as high as 58 in the afternoon.
But how cold was it really?
“The amount of coffee consumed was double that of last year,” said Janisch.
Thanksgiving Coffee, whose headquarters is nearby, donates the coffee, and the SRA gives the drink away. Overall, the event made $10,000 less than at the 2008 barbecue.
Despite a big employee turnout and a variety of microbrews from North Coast Brewing, beer sales fell from $8,000 to $5,500.
“It was purely a factor of the weather. With it so cold people weren”t as into drinking beer,” said Janisch. Wine and soda sales were also down.
Some people loved the cold and overcast weather.
“This is perfect,” said Vickie Gray of Concord, who was among that smaller morning crowd, having planned to go to the Mendocino parade but skipping it when she saw the size of the crowd.
“It was just too hot [in Concord] so we decided to take a ride,” Gray said, enjoying the cool air.
Crowds arrived en masse after 2 p.m., and the late afternoon lines were long. Even with all the grills going, the cookers suddenly couldn”t keep up, and all tables were overflowing, with hundreds of people standing.
One bit of positive news was that many in the crowd who got the hot salmon fresh off the grill in the afternoon said it tasted better than ever.
“I don”t know if they changed the marinade or what, but this is the best I”ve had,” said Dan O”Connor of Sacramento, who was attending his seventh World”s Largest Salmon Barbecue and echoing a common compliment.
Janisch said the recipe hadn”t changed, but he”d heard praise for the flavor too.
“Every salmon and every batch of salmon is different. Even when I caught fish off Fort Bragg (in past years) each fish tastes different,” he said.
This year”s salmon came from the state of Washington instead of the usual Alaska, caught by commercial trollers there. Fort Bragg”s commercial fishing industry is shut down again for the second straight year, along with the rest of the state, due to alarming drops in returning salmon numbers to the Sacramento River system.
The Obama Administration has issued a sweeping order calling for salmon restoration in the Central Valley, which has angered California”s governor, developers and irrigation districts. The order will change the way water is delivered. The order is being celebrated by coastal and fishing groups.
Status of salmon
Many changes may happen in 2010, and some observers say benefits to streams, rivers and fishing could be felt as early as 2015.
The plunge in returning salmon numbers that caused cancellation of salmon fishing for the past two years is attributed to several factors, including warmer waters and poor conditions in inland rivers.
During the real estate boom years, “pro-business” Central Valley counties approved tens of thousands of new houses, providing one drain on the water supply. Dams and agricultural irrigation have taken the biggest toll for a half-century.
Also, a hatchery program, which trucked baby salmon past inhospitable rivers into the Sacramento Delta, became fraught with problems. Finally, ocean water was inexplicably cold off Northern California for two years straight, severely hurting the ability of the salmon to feed when they hit the ocean.
While river and stream water is still overused, too warm and scarce, the hatchery-trucking program was fixed and ocean temperatures went back to normal in the years since. Biologists think that will mean a fishing season in 2010.
“It looks hopeful,” said Janisch. “We don”t know for sure yet if there will be a season and how much of one there will be.”
Caito and volunteers
The salmon for the World”s Largest Salmon Barbecue is bought each year through Caito Fisheries, one of Fort Bragg oldest businesses, and now its most significant ocean-related enterprise. Caito Fisheries finds the salmon as cheaply as possible and has provided donated equipment and other help to the SRA over the years.
The SRA has a firm policy against serving farmed salmon. Virtually all of the fish served is wild caught king salmon, with silver salmon sometimes mixed in, though not this year.
The SRA issued volunteer badges this year and found there were more people helping out than anybody had thought. The SRA printed 140 badges but ended up recycling them to get one to each of the 200 people who volunteered.
The SRA serves a volunteer appreciation dinner in January.
“As usual, all of our local service clubs are responsible for putting on a great event,” said Janisch.
The Fort Bragg Lions, Soroptimists, Rotary, Kiwanis and Knights of Columbus all provided crews to serve or sell different items. Many volunteers didn”t belong to any club.
About $20,000 raised by this year”s event will be devoted to local watershed restoration and education programs.
Restoration partners including the Noyo Watershed Alliance, Trout Unlimited, the Big River Alliance and the California Department of Fish and Game had booths illustrating how money is spent. Those efforts are devoted to fixing seriously degraded local rivers. The SRA has become a key funder of local watershed restoration efforts in recent years.
Restoration focus
A big effort by SRA in 2010 will be work to restore the Navarro River.
“We will be doing a lot more watershed restoration work in coming years on our local rivers,” said Janisch. “We welcome any grant applications designed to restore our rivers and streams.”
Another effort by SRA is funding local meetings and communication about the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). The SRA spent $5,000 on that effort, but there was no booth about MLPA this year. One is planned for next year.
Helene Chalfin of Jug Handle Creek Farm and Nature Center, Teri Jo Barber from the City of Fort Bragg, and Fort Bragg Middle School student Frances Fontavilla staffed another booth about efforts involving the city, schools, Jug Handle and the SRA. That effort allows middle and high school students to restore the watershed at the city”s Otis Johnson Wilderness Park.
The SRA hopes to create an annual program in which students will get hands-on knowledge about the integrated life of the coastal community and the surrounding forest, its plants, animals and fish.
A common question asked by visitors to the barbecue is why the SRA cooks the grand pink fish in order to save them. Some people assumed that over-fishing was the reason for the decline of salmon.
In truth, fishing groups have been as influential as environmental agencies and activists at saving the fish they rely upon.
This reporter surveyed 25 people and, as past surveys showed, when local people were encountered, they mostly had brought an out-of-town visitor to the event.
Many people come every year, but some who have come to every event were conspicuously absent, including a contingent from Sacramento who mount large flags each year.
“I am guessing the main reason we were down was because of the economy … People that showed didn”t spend as much,” Jansich said.
Once every seven years, the barbecue ends up being on the same day as the Mendocino Parade — July 4. That date also means no fireworks after the barbecue due to the higher charge for a July 4 show.
One popular diversion was the Noyo River Coast Guard base, located adjacent to the barbecue. For the past three years, the Coast Guard has opened the base to tours as part of its community outreach.
Although the Coast Guard is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, its function here is still almost entirely search and rescue. Those on the tour heard about the history of search and rescue efforts by the agency back to the early 20th century when it was called the U.S. Lifesaving Service and the base was in Point Arena.
“They performed the same kind of rescues back then as we do now, only they used wooden boats with oars,” said John Gray, who is one of the 26 men and four women who staff the local base.
