Anglers seek relief amid salmon decline
COOS BAY, Ore. – Hundreds of salmon fishers rallied on the Oregon Coast on Monday, calling for federal disaster relief to help them weather a fishing closure brought on by declining spawning success in the troubled Klamath River.
About 400 anglers and their supporters turned out on the Coos Bay Board Walk, where Oregon Democrats Rep. Peter DeFazio and Rep. Darlene Hooley said legislation would be introduced following the April recess to provide disaster assistance for salmon fishers as well as money to improve spawning success on the Klamath. Another 100 people rallied in Newport, aides said.
“Four years ago when they were diverting water out of the Klamath River to try to provide something for the farms in a drought year, a very generous package (for farmers) was forthcoming” from Congress, said DeFazio. “We feel fishers are farmers of the sea. You’re putting food on the table, too.”
Following strong direction from NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency that oversees salmon restoration and ocean fisheries, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted last week to practically shut down commercial salmon fishing along 700 miles of Oregon and California coastline.
The decision still must be approved by the secretary of Commerce. The seasons call for no commercial salmon fishing within the 400 miles between Florence and Fort Bragg, Calif., with limited openings south to Point Sur, Calif., and north to Cape Falcon. Recreational fishing was also cut back, but not as severely.
The closure was prompted by projections that wild chinook salmon from the Klamath River would return to spawn in numbers below minimums set by federal fisheries managers for the third year in a row.
DeFazio noted that NOAA Fisheries denied a disaster declaration for the salmon fishing industry last year, when projections of poor returns to the Klamath prompted less stringent reductions in salmon fishing. He said he and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., are filing a Freedom of Information Act request for records leading to the decision to deny the disaster declaration.
“We need a disaster declaration this year,” DeFazio said. “We need it pronto.”
Michelle St. Martin, spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, praised the fisheries council last week for basing its decision on science and involving diverse parties.
“Species conservation is rarely easy and often times involves sacrifice on the part of one or more groups in our society,” she said.
Klamath chinook are not endangered. Though returns from California’s Sacramento Basin and other watersheds are plentiful this year, harvesting them would likely take some Klamath fish, and federal fisheries managers are concerned that returns are already dangerously low.
Charleston salmon fisherman Paul Merz tied his salmon troller, the Joanne, at the dock adjoining the rally site, with a sail printed with “Fix The Klamath” in big red letters.
“This is not a new disaster,” said Merz, who also serves on the board of the Coos Watershed Association representing fishing enthusiasts. “Fishermen, scientists and management people know what needs to be done. Everybody can have a business if we find a middle ground.”
The Klamath has been beset for years with problems over allocating scarce water between farms and fish, poor water quality and poor fish habitat. Four dams block salmon from 300 miles of river.