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<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>State-commissioned
study looks deep into commercial fisheries<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><!--subtitle--><!--byline-->John Driscoll/The Times-Standard<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><!--date-->Posted: 04/30/2009 01:30:18 AM PDT<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The first comprehensive economic study of the state's
commercial fisheries shows an industry with promise but also in peril. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The value of most fisheries isn't keeping up with the costs
needed to harness them, found the California Department of Fish and
Game-commissioned study released this week. The snapshot of the wide range of
fisheries shows an industry vulnerable to globalization, regulation and
competition from other food production industries. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>”It doesn't paint a very nice picture of what's going
on out there,” said <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
economist Steve Hackett. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>HSU and consultant King and Associates out of <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maryland</st1:place></st1:State> prepared the
report. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The report doesn't measure trends over time, but instead
focuses on 2006. For example, limited fishing for salmon on the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
that year shows a depressed fishery that would look better, perhaps, if earlier
data were used and averaged. But there have also been recent years in which
there was no salmon fishing at all. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Dungeness crab was a moneymaker, according to the report,
although it's subject to natural, cyclical fluctuations in catch. In contrast,
the 500 people in the hook-and-line fishery, Hackett said, split a meager $1
million among them in 2006. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The economic report is meant to inform regulators of the
effects policy changes and other factors can have on commercial fisheries. For
example, it can help quantify the costs and possible benefits of establishing
marine reserves under the Marine Life Protection Act, whose implementation is a
continuing concern for commercial fishermen. It can also help understand the
effects of wave energy projects and climate change on fisheries, Hackett said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The report breaks down the elements of the various fisheries
in the state by county and region, and attaches multipliers -- an economic tool
to measure the total effects of an industry -- to the fisheries. The trawl
fishery was found to have a multiplier of nearly 1.6, which means that for every
$1 million a fishery gains or loses over the status quo, $1.6 million is
generated or lost in the local economy. That includes factors like purchases of
fuel, bait, gear and other necessities. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Eureka fisherman Dave Bitts, also president of the Pacific Coast
Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said that the report will ideally allow
the state to question actions that might harm the fishing industry. Among the
concepts being weighed that may have an effect are revisions of landing fees to
help fund Fish and Game's ongoing operations. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>”The state has to be careful,” Bitts said.
“If you set fees that put people out of business, then you don't collect
anything. I would hope that they'd consider that at a minimum.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Hackett said that globalization is one reason many fisheries
are suffering from reduced prices. Cheaper products from out of state -- and
from aquaculture operations -- often end up on diners' plates in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>. Fish also
competes with other “luxury gourmet” items like high-quality beef
and free-range chicken, Hackett said. He pointed out that agriculture has an
advantage in that it can tap innovations to increase yields, but fisheries are
dependent on what the environment can produce naturally. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Department of Fish and Game fisheries economist Terry Tillman
said that there is currently abundant information on sport fisheries from the
federal government, but data on the state's commercial fisheries was lacking. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>”There was a real vacuum for information on commercial
uses,” Tillman said. “We needed to fill that gap.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>He called the study a “treasure trove of
information” that can help the agency and legislators make better
decisions in the future, and allow the department to satisfy its requirements
to consider economic impacts to businesses when addressing resource issues. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
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Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, JcT, Chair</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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