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<TD class=articleDate><SPAN class=articleDate>Article Launched: 04/19/2006
04:18:27 AM
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class=articleTitle>County seeks disaster declaration for Klamath
Basin</SPAN><BR><!--subtitle--><!--top author info--><SPAN class=articleByline>
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<TD class=articleByline><!-- overline--><SPAN class=articleByline>James
Faulk The Times-Standard</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR></SPAN>
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<P>EUREKA -- The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is pushing for a
federal disaster declaration after the Pacific Fisheries Management
Council proposed a dramatically curtailed commercial and sport salmon
season that could cut deep into the pocket books of local businesses.
<P>”This year is probably one of the most devastating reductions in
harvest opportunity that we've ever seen,” said 1st District Supervisor
Jimmy Smith.
<P>The board voted unanimously Tuesday to pass a resolution asking the
U.S. Department of Commerce to expedite a disaster declaration and adopt a
restoration plan for the Klamath Basin.
<P>Smith thanked 5th District Supervisor Jill Geist for her work on
developing long-term solutions to the problem, like the removal of dams
from the river.
<P>Dennis Mayo told the board that a method for anglers to identify where
fish originate would be helpful.
<P>Pat Higgins, fisheries biologist and candidate for 5th District
supervisor, also thanked his opponent Geist for working on the removal of
dams. But he also criticized the board for not being more fully engaged in
the issue.
<P>”Folks, this is crunch time,” he said.
<P>The state and federal governments are failing, he said, so the
responsibility falls to the county.
<P>”You have to have more engagement </P>
<P>than just writing a letter once in a while on this,” he said. </P>
<P>Smith said the board is engaged, and described hours he's spent on the
phone dealing with issues surrounding the Klamath and Trinity rivers. </P>
<P>Geist said that when she first took office, the county lacked the
infrastructure and staff to deal with these issues appropriately, but a
natural resources planner is being brought on board to help with water
quality issues.
<P>”The poor returns of salmon on the Klamath River in Northern California
and Oregon is causing a near closure of the commercial and recreational
salmon season along most of the Pacific Coast,” said a county staff
report.
<P>Cutting back the year's season by more than 90 percent “will have an
immediate and devastating impact on commercial, tribal and recreational
fisheries,” it reads.
<P>The direct impact from the closures could be as high as $100 million.
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