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<H2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">SALMON FISHERIES:<?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H2>
<H2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Salmon harvest will be slashed;
Klamath's woes force cuts for the thriving <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>
run<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H2>
<H2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><B><FONT
face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Sacramento</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:place></st1:City><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> Bee –
5/31/05<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H2>
<H2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By David Whitney, staff
writer</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H2>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">WASHINGTON - Salmon fishermen from
Northern California and Oregon are facing steep cuts in their harvest this
summer, a result they blame on warm water and low flows in the Klamath River in
2002 that killed off a sizable number of young fish that should be returning to
spawn this year. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Fishery advocates said the cuts, up to
half of last year's commercial ocean season harvest in some areas, are
especially damaging this summer because fall chinook returning on the Sacramento
River to spawn are forecast to hit record numbers. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><IMG class=OAS_adspace id=_x0000_i1027
height=1 src="mhtml:mid://00000372/!cid:image001.gif@01C565CC.BE7612B0" width=1
border=0>Because salmon stocks mingle in the ocean as they head back to their
native rivers to spawn, harvest restrictions to preserve the few returning
Klamath River fish mean that huge numbers of <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento
River</st1:place> returns - perhaps a million or more - will go unfished.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The restrictions, which vary by coastal
location, will slice the number of days open to commercial fishermen by up to
half. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">"There's going to be fish washing up on
the banks of the Sacramento River system that are basically going unused," said
Chuck Tracy, salmon staff officer in Portland, Ore., for the Pacific Fishery
Management Council, which sets West Coast fishing seasons.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Exactly how bad it will be is unclear, but
some estimates put the damage at $100 million or more. It's not just the value
of the fish, but processing and service-industry jobs as well. Millions of
dollars more will be lost in the sport fishing and tourism industries, fishery
managers say. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The developing situation has extensive and
bitter political undercurrents. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The Klamath chinook collapse four years
ago occurred at a time when, faced with a drought, federal water managers had to
balance <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> water distributions
between protected fish and angry Klamath basin farmers.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Now the Bush administration, through the
Commerce Department and its fisheries arm, has to decide whether the consequence
of providing more water for farmers created an economic disaster for fishermen.
If they find that it did, the Republican-controlled Congress will have to decide
how much federal taxpayers will pay to compensate for those policies.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Stirred into this boiling political
cauldron is the federal Endangered Species Act, which is a key part of the mix
in determining water flows to protect endangered fish on both the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> and Klamath
rivers. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Federal efforts to improve flow and
wildlife habitat along the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place> have resulted in improved fish
returns. This year, three times as many chinook are expected in the river system
than 20 years ago. A staggering 1.68 million salmon are expected when, according
to federal fishery biologists, only 180,000 or so are needed to spawn an average
2009 run. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">By contrast, the return of spawning
4-year-old chinook on the Klamath will be the worst in 20 years, and roughly a
third of what returned last year. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Federal fisheries managers anticipate a
Klamath run of 48,000, which is just 13,000 more than needed to spawn an average
2009 run. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">"The <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento
River</st1:place> run has been an Endangered Species Act success story," said
Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations. "The <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> is
an ESA disaster." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In 2001, the Bureau of Reclamation angered
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> farmers by turning
off irrigation supplies to save fish. By the next spring, the agency reversed
course under pressure from Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration, and
river flows dropped to preserve water for irrigators.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">This was the very period that little fish
that should be this year's chinook harvest were getting their start. Spawned by
returning 2001 adults, the juvenile fish encountered low flows and warm water on
their way out to sea in early 2002, and most didn't make it.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Later that fall, more than 30,000
returning adult chinook also turned up diseased and dead in lower reaches of the
river. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The Federation of Fishermen's
Associations, one of the harshest critics of the Bush administration over
Klamath policy, jumped on the forecast of weak 2005 returns last year, and in a
letter to President Bush last July asked for preparations for economic disaster
relief. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">"The low flows causing the fish kill were
the direct result of actions taken by the Klamath Irrigation Project, operated
by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, which diverted water from
the river that year that was needed for fish survival," wrote W.F. "Zeke" Grader
Jr., the association's executive director. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">That letter triggered an economic disaster
study under way by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
fisheries arm. The study is required for the administration to issue an economic
fisheries disaster determination, a precursor to a congressional relief package.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Eric Chavez, a sustainable fisheries
specialist for the agency in <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> who is
doing the report, said part of the calculus will be the foregone fishing
opportunities on the huge <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> run. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">"Part of the fishermen's frustration is
knowing that all those salmon will be out there but can't be fished because of
the need to protect the Klamath numbers," he said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">He said the study is precedent-setting in
that never before has the agency been called upon to make a determination so
early in the process. The salmon season, which runs through the fall, only
recently opened. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">When asked if a disaster declaration can
be made before a season ends, Chavez said: "That's a good question. This has
never been done before." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Democratic lawmakers from <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State> already are pounding on the
administration's door over the situation. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In a letter May 12 to Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez, all 37 Democrats from the two states demanded completion of
the economic disaster finding by June 1, in time for Congress to include
disaster relief in spending bills for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said his
office contacted Republicans from both states urging them to join in on the
letter but all declined. #<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><A
href="http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/12983923p-13830922c.html">http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/12983923p-13830922c.html</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">####<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>