[env-trinity] Siskiyou reels in salmon aid;

[Tom Stokely]

NORTH COAST SALMON:

Siskiyou reels in salmon aid; Nine other counties will share state loans totaling $9.2 million

Redding Record-Searchlight – 6/9/06

By Dylan Darling, staff writer

 

Although it's 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean at its westernmost point, Siskiyou County will get help from the state to cope with the economic impact of a restricted salmon fishing season. 

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week declared a state of emergency in Siskiyou and nine other counties, opening the door for $9.2 million in loans for salmon-related businesses and anglers. 

 

The other counties -- Del Norte, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Sonoma -- all border the Pacific Ocean. Siskiyou County was included because the Klamath River runs through it, said Steve Martarano, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

 

It is not yet clear how the assistance is to be divided up. 

 

The Klamath has been at the heart of the current crisis. Low numbers of nativerun chinook salmon are expected in the river this fall, and since there's no way out in the ocean to distinguish a Klamath salmon from any other, the federal government has limited commercial fishing along 700 miles of coastline. The ban runs from Point Sur near Monterey to Cape Falcon near Astoria, Ore. 

 

The low Klamath numbers are the result of recent fish kills brought on by bacteria and disease, as well as a lack of good spawning grounds.

 

There will be a limited season in September off Fort Bragg; in July, August and September in the ocean near San Francisco; and in May, July, August and September in the Monterey area, according to the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, the federal agency that sets ocean fishing seasons. This year's catch should be 40 percent of the usual commercial harvest. 

 

In addition to the federal limits, the state Fish and Game Commission -- which sets regulations for fishing and hunting -- has called for a ban on recreational fishing in the Klamath this fall, Martarano said. The proposed ban is undergoing legal review, but looks likely. 

"There is not going to be any fall fishing along the Klamath," he said. 

 

An exception is the Karuk Tribe, which will maintain its legal right to catch fish for traditional purposes. But tribal members expect this year's haul to be especially low. 

 

Fishing guides based in Siskiyou County will take an economic hit, as will river resort owners. "The disaster for fish on the Klamath River affects all of those people," said Marcia Armstrong, chair of the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors. 

 

Communities along the Klamath River already have a 19.6 percent unemployment rate -- mostly because of the effects on the logging industry from federal protection of the Northern spotted owl. Armstrong said unemployment could increase if there isn't a fall salmon season. 

 

Armstrong said she was pleased Schwarzenegger lumped Siskiyou in with the coastal counties that will receive assistance. Ron Reed, cultural biologist for the Karuk Tribe, said he also appreciates the help. But he added that more needs to be done to mend the problems -- such as dams blocking salmon from upstream spawning grounds -- that led to the low numbers of Klamath salmon in the first place. 

 

"I don't need a loan, I need a fish to eat," he said. #

http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/article/0,2232,REDD_17533_4762212,00.html

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