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<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>It's my understanding that there was a juvenile fish
kill in spring/early summer of 2002 which affected this year's run of 3-year old
chinook. The impacts of the 2002 adult salmon kill on 3 year old fall
chinook in the Klamath-Trinity will not be felt until next year. The
number of returning jacks this year will help determine what the impact of the
adult fish kill will likely be next year.</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Usually in the Trinity River, fall chinook outnumber
spring chinook by a ratio of about 2/1. However, it's my understanding
that in 2002 due to the fish kill in the lower Klamath and a robust spring
run on the Trinity, spring chinook outnumbered fall chinook by about 2/1,
something not seen since the fish have been monitored here starting in the
1970's.</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tom Stokely</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT>
<P><A
href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/8387824.htm">http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/8387824.htm</A>
<BR>Posted on Thu, Apr. 08, 2004
<P><B>Klamath fish kills influence salmon industry two years later</B>
<P>DON THOMPSON <BR>Associated Press
<P>SACRAMENTO - Two years after one of the nation's largest recorded fish kills,
federal fisheries <BR>managers adopted restrictions Thursday to protect a
smaller returning Klamath River salmon <BR>population along the coasts of
California and Oregon. Salmon fishing also will be reduced along the
<BR>northern West Coast to compensate for an increased Canadian catch.
<P>At least 32,550 fall run chinook salmon died along the Klamath in what is
believed to be the <BR>nation's largest such die-off in the fall of 2002, and
biologists worry that could be a significant <BR>underestimate. It followed two
consecutive smaller spring kills, when water diverted to irrigation <BR>stranded
young salmon that, had they survived, would be returning upriver to spawn.
<P>The projected catch of Klamath River fall chinook this year is down 25
percent from last year's <BR>actual catch, said Chuck Tracy, the Pacific
Fisheries Management Council's salmon expert. The <BR>council regulates sport
and commercial fishing in the Pacific.
<P>Other salmon runs are expected to be bountiful, but the catch will have to be
restricted to make <BR>sure there are enough Klamath River salmon to ensure
future generations.
<P>"It's coming back to haunt us, and it will haunt us at least one more year,"
said Duncan MacLean, a <BR>32-year commercial salmon fisherman from Half Moon
Bay who serves as California's salmon troll <BR>adviser to the federal council.
"It's not just a few communities here. This is affecting the salmon <BR>fishing
industry from the Mexican border all the way up through Oregon."
<P>The fish kills manifest an ongoing battle between farmers, fishermen and
Indian tribes over scarce <BR>water in the Klamath River flowing from south
central Oregon through northern California. An <BR>irrigation shut-off in 2001
led to confrontations between farmers and U.S. marshals, and engaged <BR>the
White House as the Department of Interior and Bureau of Reclamation continue
trying to <BR>balance water demands.
<P>MacLean is among fishermen who are bitter at the annual restrictions and
billions of dollars spent <BR>to improve salmon habitat, "only to see those
destroyed in one fell swoop. Fish just can't get along <BR>without water. It's
just that simple."
<P>But Wade Sinnen, a fisheries biologist with the California Department of Fish
and Game, said ocean <BR>conditions and many other environmental factors may
also be to blame for the lower projected <BR>return.
<P>"That's a stretch to say there's a definite link there," Sinnen said. "You
can't positively say because <BR>of the kill, the numbers are down."
<P>The restrictions the length of the U.S. West Coast come a year after the
fisheries council <BR>recommended the largest salmon harvests in 15 years.
<P>"Just because they don't get as good a season as they did last year, doesn't
mean it's going to be a bad <BR>season. I think it's going to be a great
season," said California fisheries biologist Melodie <BR>Palmer-Zwahlen.
<P>West Coast salmon runs had been steadily increasing the last three years
after bottoming out in <BR>1994. The populations by then were so low the council
nearly shut down both sport and <BR>commercial salmon fishing to keep from
wiping out threatened and endangered runs.
<P>To avoid a repeat and make sure Klamath salmon return to spawn, the council
increased the size <BR>limit from 26 inches to 27 inches beginning July 1, and
to 28 inches beginning Sept. 1 north of <BR>Point Arena; delayed the season a
month in the Fort Bragg area; and imposed a smaller catch in <BR>the Crescent
City and Eureka area near the mouth of the river. A more complicated system was
<BR>recommended for Oregon to get similar results.
<P>"Guys will not work on schools of smaller fish that they otherwise would have
worked," said David <BR>Bitts of Eureka, vice president of the Pacific Coast
Federation of Fishermen's Associations, who has <BR>fished for salmon for 30
years.
<P>The council also trimmed salmon harvests from northern Oregon through
Washington to <BR>compensate for an increased Canadian catch of the benchmark
species there, Snake River fall <BR>chinook. Unlike the last few years, Canada
intends to catch its limit this season.
<P>"There won't be as many to go around," Tracy said. When commercial fishermen
reach their limit <BR>on that species, they'll have to stop the harvest for
other salmon as well.
<P>Recreational fisheries will be less affected, with limits generally similar
to last year.
<P>In Oregon, the coho fishery will extend to the Oregon-California border
instead of to Humbug <BR>Mountain, but there will be a smaller quota.
<P>For winter run chinook in California, the 2005 season will begin April 2 with
a 20-inch size limit, <BR>down from a periodic 24-inch limit this year. Salmon
stayed far off the California coast last year, so <BR>not as many were caught.
<P>"We're hoping they'll have a little better fishing this year, a more normal
catch," Tracy said.
<P>ON THE NET
<P>Pacific Fishery Management Council: <A
href="http://pcouncil.org">http://pcouncil.org</A>
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