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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Steve Davies<br>
Editor/Publisher <br>
Endangered Species & Wetlands Report<font color=blue><span
style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=blue
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center'><b><i><font
size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold;
font-style:italic'>ESWR </span></font></i></b><b><font size=5><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Update (4/4/06)</span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Editor's
note: </span></font></b>This story was reported and written by <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>ESWR </span></i>Contributing Writer Patricia Foulk<br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>NO DISASTER DECLARATION FOR 2005 CALIF./ORE.
OCEAN SALMON FISHERY<br>
<br>
NMFS announcement comes on eve of decision for 2006 season<br>
<br>
</span></b>Despite pleas almost a year ago from 37 members of Congress, two
governors, and fishing groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service has
elected not to declare the sharply curtailed 2005 salmon fisheries off <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>
a "fishery disaster" under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act.<br>
<br>
The states and federal government shut down ocean trolling last summer because
of low numbers of <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> chinook, but
reopened the commercial season for short periods in the fall. Shortly after the
restrictions were announced, NMFS received requests for a disaster declaration,
which would have opened the door for federal financial aid -- not only
for commercial fishermen but for the local businesses that support them.<br>
<br>
The decision was made public in the third paragraph of a March 31 letter from
NMFS Regional Administrators D. Robert Lohn (Northwest) and Rodney McInnis
(Southwest) to Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) Chairman Donald
Hansen. <br>
<br>
The news also comes on the eve of a PFMC meeting later this week, where the
council is widely expected to recommend severe curtailment -- and
possibly a total shutdown -- of ocean salmon fishing this season off the coasts
of <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>.<br>
<br>
In their letter, Lohn and McInnis said, "[A]s you may now be aware, NOAA
has determined that the best available information did not support a
declaration of a commercial fishery failure in 2005. The commercial fishery
failure could not be justified because the commercial fisher's [sic] sales of
salmon either met or exceeded the average value of recent years because the
price to fishermen was high and offset the effects of the more restrictive
fishing seasons.<br>
<br>
"Community impacts also were assessed in the disaster consideration and
the 2005 economic activity generated by commercial salmon fishing in each of
the ports affected by the restrictions was found to be near the average of
recent years," the administrators said.<br>
<br>
A NMFS spokesman confirmed that congressional staff in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place>,
were briefed on the decision March 29, and that "calls were made" to
governors. A letter from NMFS Administrator William Hogarth further explaining
the agency's decision is "in the works," according to another NMFS
official.<br>
<br>
The decision provoked outrage from the fishing community. <br>
<br>
Gerald Reinholt, an <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>
fish processor and industry representative to the salmon sub-panel of the PFMC,
said, "NOAA doesn't have the right to decide what a fisherman should
make."<br>
<br>
"No matter how you look at it, it certainly is a fishery failure," he
told members of the Klamath Fishery Management Council in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> April 3.<br>
<br>
According to Reinholt, there are some real dangers in thinking consumers will
keep paying more for wild fish when farmed fish are readily available.
"This party may soon be over," he said. <br>
<br>
Last year, the PFMC recommended severe cutbacks for salmon seasons off the
coasts of <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>. This season's forecasts are even
grimmer and may result in a complete closure of both commercial and
recreational salmon fisheries. The other two options would allow varying levels
of fishing opportunities.<br>
<br>
If there is a shutdown, NMFS told PFMC it will "analyze the projected
impacts of the 2006 ocean salmon management measures as soon as those measures
are established."<br>
<br>
On March 28, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski hosted an "emergency summit"
in <st1:City w:st="on">Salem</st1:City> on the expected closure of <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>'s salmon season,
seeking upfront commitments to "bring relief to the families, businesses
and towns affected by this problem." He said he was sending a letter to
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asking him to declare the 2006 ocean
fishery an economic disaster.<br>
<br>
He further promised to get Gutierrez and Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, nominated
to be Interior Secretary, to visit the state and "participate in a
dialogue about the 'inseparable connection' between federal management
decisions in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and federal
responsibility to manage salmon and marine stocks. That dialogue should examine
the question of how many Klamath fall Chinook must return every year to
maintain their viability."<br>
<br>
At issue are record-low numbers of fall-run Chinook salmon originating in the <st1:place
w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>. What's particularly vexing to fishers is
that the ocean is teeming with other salmon, especially those reared in the <st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place>. However, because anglers can't
distinguish which silver-sided fish was born in which river, NMFS manages on
the basis of what it calls "weak stock," meaning fishing regulations
are set to protect the weakest, or least abundant, salmon populations. <br>
<br>
Klamath stocks aren't major contributors to the ocean salmon fishery. Depending
on the area and time of year, they can account for less than 1 percent and up
to 10 percent of the catch off <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> and <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>. But when Klamath
salmon abundance levels are low -- even if other stocks are abundant -- West
Coast ocean salmon fisheries are faced with severe regulatory closures, a
scenario that fishers and the agencies that oversee them say appears unlikely
to improve anytime soon.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.eswr.com/206/nmfstopfmclet33106.pdf" eudora=autourl>http://www.eswr.com/206/nmfstopfmclet33106.pdf</a>
Letter to PFMC from NMFS Regional Administrators (3/31/06)<br>
<a href="http://www.pcffa.org/SalmonDisasterLetter.pdf" eudora=autourl>http://www.pcffa.org/SalmonDisasterLetter.pdf</a>
Letter to DOC Secy. Carlos Gutierrez from 37 members of Congress (5/12/05)<br>
<a href="http://www.pcffa.org/Salmondisaster.pdf" eudora=autourl>http://www.pcffa.org/Salmondisaster.pdf</a>
Similar letter from Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Wash.) to Gutierrez (5/3/05)<br>
<u><a href="http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/sound/govsalmonsummit.wav"
eudora=autourl>http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/sound/govsalmonsummit.wav</a></u>
Recent audio clip from Kulongoski <br>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june06/salmon_4-3.html"
eudora=autourl>http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june06/salmon_4-3.html</a>
Story from PBS Online NewsHour (4/3/06)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center'><b><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Copyright
Poplar Publishing/Endangered Species & Wetlands Report 2006</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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