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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-mail-urlsharesharedcontentclass><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Fisheries-filling-again-on-West-Coast-4396262.php">http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Fisheries-filling-again-on-West-Coast-4396262.php</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div id=article><h1 style='text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Fisheries filling again on West Coast<o:p></o:p></span></h1><div style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'><img border=0 id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/20/61/53/4397785/3/premium_article_headline.jpg"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='margin-top:4.8pt'><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:140%'><span style='font-size:7.5pt;line-height:140%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#666666'>Chinook salmon, like this one at the Salmon Institute in Tiburon, appear to be making a comeback along the coast.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p style='text-align:justify'><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>By <a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/author/peter-fimrite"><span style='color:#20007F;text-decoration:none'>Peter Fimrite</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>March 30, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Once-devastated fish stocks seem to be growing rapidly off the California coast and more of them are being hauled off to market, indicating that the state's long-beleaguered commercial fishing industry may finally be recovering, a new federal report shows.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the haul of fish, crabs, squid and other sea creatures increased all along the Pacific coast in 2011, the latest year with complete information available. Earnings of fishermen also grew.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>There appears to be a dramatic increase in the number of fish along the Pacific Coast, said Richard Merrick, the chief science adviser for NOAA fisheries, a phenomenon he attributed to improved management, increased measures to protect fish habitat and better ocean conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>"The economy is coming back, fish prices are going up, and demand in general seems to be going up," Merrick said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The promising numbers were in NOAA's report "Fisheries Economics of the United States 2011," which gauges the economic viability of commercial and recreational fisheries and marine-related businesses for every coastal state in the nation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 style='text-align:justify'><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>California jobs<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>California generated the most jobs from fishing in 2011, followed by Massachusetts, Florida, Washington and Alaska, according to the sixth annual report, which was released this week. About 1.2 billion pounds of fish and shellfish were landed in the Pacific Region, which includes California, Oregon and Washington. More than 400 million pounds of fish were hauled in off the California coast.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The $710 million in revenue from the Pacific catch represents a 28 percent increase over 2010 and an 81 percent increase since 2002, the report stated.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Stiff quotas and catch limits on overfished populations required by the 2006 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act helped increase populations of rockfish, squid, hake and cod over the past decade, Merrick said. The catch of hake, which is a form of cod, increased 74 percent, while the squid take has increased 67 percent off the coasts of the three Western states over the past decade, the study found.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 style='text-align:justify'><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Salmon situation<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Even salmon appear to be making a recovery. Fisheries service experts estimate that there are 834,000 fall-run chinook in the ocean right now preparing to return to the Sacramento River system to lay eggs in the fall, the most since 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The estimates, which are used to establish fishing guidelines, are similar to last year, when 819,000 salmon were supposedly in the sea. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The problem is that the forecasts, which are largely based on the percentage of juvenile salmon counted the year before in the river, can be inaccurate. The real number of salmon last year turned out to be 618,000, based on a count of spawning chinook and the number of fish that were actually caught in the river and ocean. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The Sacramento run of chinook is still in bad shape, Merrick said, but the situation has clearly improved since the two-year ban on fishing was enacted after salmon stocks reached record lows in 2008 and 2009. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Roger Thomas, chairman of the board for the Golden Gate Salmon Association, said that while he is upset about continuing limits on the take, he's relieved that the salmon population is doing better. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>"We're all looking forward to getting some good fresh salmon, one of the healthiest foods you can eat," said Thomas, who operates the Salty Lady boat out of Sausalito. <o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 style='text-align:justify'><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Habitat protection<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The growing fish population is good news for both the fishing industry and for conservationists, who recently won major victories in their long-term efforts to protect ocean habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The California Fish and Game Commission last year finished establishing a network of undersea state reserves, called Marine Protected Areas, extending from Mexico to Oregon. The interconnected series of protected marine environments, most of which do not allow fishing, go 3 miles out from shore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Studies have shown that the number and average size of many key species has increased since the first of the reserves was established six years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Late last year, President Obama and congressional representatives set in motion a two-year public review process for a proposal to more than double the area covered by the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries. The new preserves would protect 2,093 square nautical miles of additional ocean habitat off the coast of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, extending up to 30 miles out to sea. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>"The West Coast is a really good success story," Merrick said. "I wish the rest of the country was the same way. The management that has been done on the West Coast has been by and large superb. It's a model for the rest of the country."<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><h3 style='text-align:justify'><strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Fish report </span></strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></h3><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>"Fisheries Economics of the United States 2011" is available online at <a href="http://1.usa.gov/XVzOWU"><b><span style='color:#20007F;text-decoration:none'>1.usa.gov/XVzOWU</span></b></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: <a href="mailto:pfimrite@sfchronicle.com"><b><span style='color:#20007F;text-decoration:none'>pfimrite@sfchronicle.com</span></b></a> Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/pfimrite"><b><span style='color:#20007F;text-decoration:none'>@pfimrite</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><br><br><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>