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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Ban
on commercial fishing of chinook extended<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=byline1><span style='font-size:8.0pt'><a
href="mailto:pfimrite@sfchronicle.com"><span style='color:#015660;text-decoration:
none'>Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=date1><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Friday, March 13, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The grim reality of a devastated salmon
fishery hit home Thursday when the Pacific Fishery Management Council agreed to
another ban on commercial fishing of chinook in California and Oregon.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<ul type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;display:none'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";display:none'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/13/BALN16EDVC.DTL&type=newsbayarea"><span
style='color:#015660;text-decoration:none'>S.F.: Time lags for clock tower
repairs</span></a> 03.13.09 <o:p></o:p></span></b></li>
</ul>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>It is the second straight year that the sea
salts who make their living off the fabled fall run of Sacramento River king
salmon will be grounded. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>None of the three options approved by the
14-member panel made up of fishing interests, tribal representatives and
conservation groups from California, Oregon and Washington included any
commercial fishing in the two states. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The decision came after a week of testimony in
Seattle that included mounting bad news about the California fishery. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Severe restrictions and bans on sportfishing
were also included in the package, which will be narrowed down to a final
option early next month. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"It's grim," said Dave Bitts,
president of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
"The ocean conditions were supposed to have turned around and gotten a lot
better, so I'm kind of baffled, frankly." <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The blame falls directly on the Central Valley
fall run of chinook. Only about 66,000 adult salmon returned to spawn last fall
in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, according to biologists whose
estimates are based on a count of egg nests in the riverbed. It was the lowest
return on record. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The collapse forced regulators to ban ocean
salmon fishing in California and most of Oregon last year, the first time that
had ever been done.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Fisheries biologists are projecting that the
fall run of chinook this year will be almost twice as plentiful as last year, a
fact that experts characterized as a thin thread of a silver lining. Still, the
numbers will barely reach the council's minimum goal of 122,000 fish even if
there is no fishing, according to the projections.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The council, which was established three
decades ago to manage the Pacific Coast fishery, did include a little
sportfishing in California in one of the options. If that option eventually
gets approved, it would mean recreational fishermen could take chinook between
Aug. 29 and Sept. 7 only in an area extending from the mouth of the Klamath
River to southern Oregon.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<h3 style='line-height:21.0pt'>Disastrous fall run<o:p></o:p></h3>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>All three options would allow some commercial
and sportfishing of hatchery-raised coho salmon - identifiable because the
fleshy adipose fins have been removed - in Oregon during July and August. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Chinook, or king, salmon, pass through San
Francisco Bay and roam the Pacific Ocean as far away as Alaska before returning
three years later to spawn where they were born in the Sacramento River and its
tributaries. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The fall run - in September and October - has
for decades been the backbone of the West Coast fishing industry.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>At its peak, it exceeded 800,000 fish. Over
the past decade, the numbers had consistently topped 250,000. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Until last year, the worst run on record was
in 1992, when only 81,000 chinook returned to spawn. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<h3 style='line-height:21.0pt'>Various possible causes<o:p></o:p></h3>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Changing ocean conditions, diversions of
freshwater in the delta to cities and farms, pumping operations and exposure to
pollutants have all been trotted out as culprits in the demise of the salmon.
Some fishermen believe ravenous sea lions are to blame, but most
environmentalists have consistently pointed to increases in water exports out
of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as the primary reason for the
decline. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Whatever the cause, more than 2,200 fishermen
and fishing industry workers lost their jobs as a result of last year's ban.
Fishing communities and fishing-related businesses lost more than $250 million.
Indirect economic impacts were even larger, according to fishing industry
representatives. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<h3 style='line-height:21.0pt'>Report forthcoming<o:p></o:p></h3>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Federal fishery scientists are expected to
release a report next week on possible reasons for the collapse, but it is
already too late for the salmon this year.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The council will make a final recommendation
to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service in
early April. The final decision on the restrictions is expected to be made by
May 1. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Restrictions on river fishing will be made at
a later date by the California Department of Fish and Game, which allowed some
600 chinook to be caught last year, angering many commercial fishermen who felt
it was wrong to allow any fishing.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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