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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>U.S.
to ban commercial salmon season<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'>Thursday, April 9, 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'><strong><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>(04-08)
19:52 PDT Millbrae</span></strong><span style='font-size:9.5pt'> </span><b>--
Lovers of king salmon will have to settle for fish hooked in the Pacific
Northwest this year under a federal agency's recommendation Wednesday to ban
the commercial catching of salmon off California and much of Oregon in an
attempt to save the fabled fish.</b><span style='font-size:9.5pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt'><b><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222;
text-transform:uppercase'>Images<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/04/09/MNDI16V7LG.DTL&o=0"><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#015660;
text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=64 height=64 id="Picture_x0020_22"
src="cid:image001.gif@01C9B8FF.9ABA4640"
alt="Fisherman Steve Crotty, who used to go out after chinook ..."></span></a><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/04/09/MNDI16V7LG.DTL&o=1"><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#015660;
text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=64 height=64 id="Picture_x0020_23"
src="cid:image002.gif@01C9B8FF.9ABA4640"
alt="Offshore salmon fishing ban area (Chronicle Graphic)"></span></a><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/04/09/MNDI16V7LG.DTL&o="><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#015660'><img border=0 width=7 height=7 id="Picture_x0020_24"
src="cid:image003.gif@01C9B8FF.9ABA4640"
alt="http://imgs.sfgate.com/graphics/utils/plus-green.gif"></span></span><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;color:#015660;text-decoration:none'>View Larger Images</span></a>
</span><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></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'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";display:none'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/08/international/i024745D16.DTL"><span
style='color:#015660;text-decoration:none'>FBI joins effort in hostage
standoff with pirates</span></a> 04.09.09 <o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The move, which the National Marine Fisheries
Service is expected to make final by May 1, comes after the fewest chinook
salmon ever recorded made their way up the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers
last fall.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"There are just no fish," said Zeke
Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations. "If they allowed any fishing, they would be putting at risk
future fishing."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Wednesday's decision by the 14-member Pacific
Fishery Management Council, meeting in Millbrae, marks the second year in a row
that commercial fishermen will not be allowed to reel in chinook.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Only 87,881 0f the fish returned to the
once-thriving salmon factory known as the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system
in 2007, and a record low of 66,286 returned last year, according to estimates
extrapolated from a count of egg nests in riverbeds.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Fisheries biologists are projecting that, even
without fishing this summer, the fall run of chinook will be almost twice as
plentiful as last year's, but the numbers will barely reach the council's
minimum goal of 122,000 fish.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>A fishing ban this summer had been expected
since March, when none of the three options outlined by the council included
commercial fishing in the two states. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The council, established three decades ago to
manage the Pacific Coast fishery, advised that some sport fishing be allowed in
California and Oregon, mostly where the much-improved Klamath River salmon runs
are located.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The Klamath and Trinity river runs were
declared a disaster in 2006, but runs there are looking better than the
Sacramento this year. Recreational fishermen would be allowed to take chinook
from Aug. 29 to Sept. 7 from the mouth of the Klamath River to southern Oregon.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Some commercial and sportfishing of
hatchery-raised coho salmon - identifiable because the fleshy adipose fins have
been removed - will be allowed in Oregon during July and August.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The Sacramento River's spawning run was the
last great salmon run along the giant Central Valley river system, which
includes the San Joaquin River, where leaping, wriggling chinook were once so
plentiful that old-timers recalled reaching in and plucking fish right out of
the water.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Chinook, known scientifically as Oncorhynchus
tshawytscha, hatch in rivers and streams. Also known as king, spring or tyee
salmon, they 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. At its peak, it
exceeded 800,000 fish. Over the past decade, the number of spawners had
consistently topped 250,000.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>A study last month by federal, state and
academic scientists blamed the collapse of the fishery on poor conditions in
both the ocean and river.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Destruction of river habitat, water diversions
and dams in the Central Valley so weakened the fall run that it couldn't
withstand two recent years of scanty food supply in the warming Pacific Ocean,
according to the study commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Exacerbating the problem, researchers said,
was the demise of three other distinct runs of salmon - winter, spring and late
fall - and the reliance on less genetically diverse hatchery fish instead of
naturally spawning wild populations of chinook. <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.
While they received federal disaster aid, fishing communities and
fishing-related businesses lost more than $250 million.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"We just need to decide that we value
wild California king salmon," said Larry Collins, a San Francisco salmon
and crab fisherman. "We know what to do to make these runs healthier.
Until we leave enough water in the rivers for the salmon, we're going to
continue to be up against it."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Restrictions on river fishing will be decided
in May or June by the California Department of Fish and Game, which allowed
about 600 chinook to be caught last year, angering commercial fishermen who
opposed any fishing.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"The best thing fishermen can do this
year is attend all the water board hearings and let the governor know how his
water policies are hurting our industry," Grader said. "In the
meantime, it's going to be a struggle."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<h3 style='line-height:21.0pt'>Salmon peril by the numbers <o:p></o:p></h3>
<table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0
style='border-collapse:collapse'>
<tr>
<td valign=top style='border:solid #666666 1.0pt;padding:9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>250,000 </span></strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td valign=top style='border:solid #666666 1.0pt;border-left:none;padding:
9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Number of chinook that spawned in
Northern California each year for much of the past decade<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign=top style='border:solid #666666 1.0pt;border-top:none;background:
#EEEEEE;padding:9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>87,881 </span></strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td valign=top style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #666666 1.0pt;
border-right:solid #666666 1.0pt;background:#EEEEEE;padding:9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Number of salmon that returned to the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River system in 2007<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign=top style='border:solid #666666 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:
9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>66,286 </span></strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td valign=top style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #666666 1.0pt;
border-right:solid #666666 1.0pt;padding:9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Record-low number of the fish that
returned last year<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign=top style='border:solid #666666 1.0pt;border-top:none;background:
#EEEEEE;padding:9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>2,200 </span></strong><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td valign=top style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #666666 1.0pt;
border-right:solid #666666 1.0pt;background:#EEEEEE;padding:9.0pt 10.5pt 9.0pt 10.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:11.25pt'><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Number of workers who lost their jobs as
a result of last year's fishing ban<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<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>
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