[env-trinity] Breaking News: DFG Will Open Ocean Recreational Fishing Season April 1

[Byron]

  _____  

From: Dan Bacher [mailto:danielbacher at fishsniffer.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 8:06 AM



Good Morning

 

I was at the Legislative Forum at the State Capitol yesterday when I got
this news from DFG Director Ryan Broddrick and Deputy Director Sonke
Mastrup. The ocean salmon season from Point Arena to Point Sur will open as
planned in state waters - 3 miles and less - on April 1. However, fishing in
federal waters - beyond the 3 mile line - will remain closed.

 

Please forward this to get the word out. Broddrick and Mastrup said the
state's regulatory process prohibits the state from enforcing the closure
requested by the Bush administration in state water waters on April 1
because the opener is already in state regulations booklets and any change
has to go through the California Fish and Game Commission and then the State
Office of Administrative Law. The Commission doesn't meet until April 6-7 -
both days when the PFMC is meeting. The PFMC is planning to make a final
recommendation on salmon options on April 7, probably after the Commission
meeting is already over.

 

 

 

News Release:  For Immediate Release Mar. 15, 2006  

  

   

DFG Will Open Ocean Recreational Fishing Season April 1 

Pacific Fisheries Management Council Decision Enacts Limitations 

  

   

Contacts: Scott Barrow, DFG Senior Biologist, (916) 651-7670; 

Steve Martarano, DFG Office of Communications, (916) 654-5866  

  

  

   

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will open the state's
recreational fishery between Point Arena and Point Sur as scheduled on April
1. However, a recent decision by the Ocean Pacific Fishery Management
Council (PFMC) closed the state's commercial salmon fisheries and also
limits the recreational season. The PFMC is scheduled to make final
recommendations that could impose further restrictions April 3-7 during
federal meetings in Sacramento. 

 

"The bottom line is we need to ensure healthy stocks in the future," said
DFG Director Ryan Broddrick. "Returns over the past three years have shown
low numbers of naturally spawning Klamath River Chinook salmon." 

 

Following the PFMC federal action March 10, California's commercial fishing
regulations will automatically conform, closing the state's commercial
salmon fishery. The PFMC also closed the sport fishery in federal waters
between Point Arena (below Fort Bragg) and Point Sur (south of Monterey),
however, because the PFMC is not set to make the final recommendations until
the federal meetings, California's sport fishery in state waters (shore to
three miles) will open as scheduled April 1. 

 

The PFMC decision is subject to action by the California Fish and Game
Commission, whose jurisdiction covers the sport salmon fishery in state
waters. The Commission may consider an in-season emergency closing of the
Central California sport fisheries to conform with federal action during its
upcoming meeting April 7 in Monterey. 

 

The PFMC rulings were based on updated spawning numbers, and are intended to
limit any further impacts to Klamath fall Chinook salmon off the entire West
Coast. 

 

Other details of note: 

 

Recreational 

 

For Northern California, the recreational salmon fishery between Horse
Mountain (above Shelter Cove) and Point Arena, which opened in February,
will remain open in federal and state waters.  

In Southern California, the recreational salmon fishery below Point Sur will
open on April 1 in federal and state waters.  

Commercial 

 

California's commercial fishery was previously scheduled to open for the
season on March 15.  

The emergency closure of the commercial fishery is in effect for all ocean
waters from Point Sur north to the California-Oregon border, and includes
more than 1,500 commercial boats (trollers) permitted through the DFG. This
fishery will remain closed until further in-season review and notice by the
PFMC.  

The National Marine Fishery Service is considering federal disaster relief
funding for West Coast salmon-related fishing businesses impacted by the
commercial closures. California's salmon resource (commercial and sport) is
valued between $44 million (PFMC estimate) and $150 million (industry
estimate).  

Alternatives to allow commercial and recreational fishing for healthy
Central Valley stocks that demonstrate no impact to Klamath stocks may be
considered by the PFMC as well as by the Fish and Game Commission at their
upcoming meetings, said Scott Barrow, a DFG senior biologist. 

 

Public comments concerning both California's commercial and recreational
salmon fisheries will be accepted at a public hearing scheduled for March 28
at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa. The PFMC will also accept public
comments for the 2006 season at its April 3-7 meeting at the Doubletree
Hotel in Sacramento. 

 

"In summary at this point, state and federal waters are closed to commercial
fishing; sport fishing is closed in federal waters between Point Arena and
Point Sur; and the state waters between Point Arena and Point Sur will open
on April 1 while the Commission considers options during its upcoming
meeting in Monterey," Barrow said. "The sport fishing in federal and state
waters for the Fort Bragg area will remain open and below Point Sur will
open on April 1."  

 

For additional information on the PFMC ruling and up-coming meetings, log on
to www.pcouncil.org or call the Ocean Salmon Hotline at 1-800-662-9825. To
obtain a copy of the PFMC press release on the closures and other emergency
regulations affecting the West Coast, log on to
www.pcouncil.org/newsreleases/pr031306_sal.pdf. 

 

For information on California's salmon fisheries in state waters, log on to
www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/oceansalmon.html#recreational or call the Ocean Salmon
Regulations Hotline at (707) 576-3429.  

 

 

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