Seasons aren’t final yet but Fort Bragg fishermen should have lots of chances to catch salmon this summer and fall, with happy returns in the federal numbers forecast. Yet the continuing California drought could have a major — and still unknown —impact on salmon, as well as everybody else.
Two summer recreation fishing season options have been proposed. One would allow constant fishing from April 4 through Nov. 8, with all salmon except Coho legal and a 20-inch limit on fish. (As a practical matter, Chinook (king) and Coho (silver) are the only salmon one is likely to catch near Fort Bragg). The second option features a September closing and Chinook minimum size limit of 20 inches through April 30, 24 inches thereafter. This option is on the boards partly because of the drought and particular concerns about the Sacramento River.
Although regulators predict more than a million salmon returning to the Sacramento and Klamath River systems next year, these predictions have been wrong more often than right in recent years.
Commercial fishers will have different off-and-on fishing schedules in each of the summer months under three different options. The earliest start under one of the plans is May 25. Two of the options allow fishing until Sept. 30, another ends the season Aug. 30. A detailed description of each season can be found at the Pacific Fisheries Management Council website: www.pcouncil.org.
The public is being asked to respond to the commercial and recreational fishing seasons proposed for action by the Pacific Coast Fishery Management Council. Written input is being accepted and a meeting will be held in Fort Bragg to present written and spoken input.
That will be a PFMC public hearing March 31 at 7 p.m. in the Motel 6 Convention Room at 400 S. Main St. in Fort Bragg.
A final option will be chosen at the PFMC’s regular meeting in Rohnert Park on April 10‐16.
Detailed information about season starting dates, areas open, and catch limits for all three options are available on the Council’s website at www.pcouncil.org.
Since 2003 the actual salmon returns have been far lower than the forecast almost every year. In 2010 the preseason forecast was over one-and-a-half times the actual post season value, and in 2009 the preseason forecast was more than three times the actual post-season value. A new method overshot the mark once again in 2014, but only by 13 percent not by as much as in the past, according to published reports. A second preseason report is scheduled to be released Friday March 20, which will contain updated numbers.
