[env-trinity] Article on NMFS

[Byron]

Steve Davies
Editor/Publisher 
Endangered Species & Wetlands Report

 

ESWR Update (4/4/06)

Editor's note: This story was reported and written by ESWR Contributing
Writer Patricia Foulk

NO DISASTER DECLARATION FOR 2005 CALIF./ORE. OCEAN SALMON FISHERY

NMFS announcement comes on eve of decision for 2006 season

Despite pleas almost a year ago from 37 members of Congress, two governors,
and fishing groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service has elected not to
declare the sharply curtailed 2005 salmon fisheries off California and
Oregon a "fishery disaster" under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act.

The states and federal government shut down ocean trolling last summer
because of low numbers of Klamath River chinook, but reopened the commercial
season for short periods in the fall. Shortly after the restrictions were
announced, NMFS received requests for a disaster declaration, which  would
have opened the door for federal financial aid -- not only for commercial
fishermen but for the local businesses that support them.

The decision was made public in the third paragraph of a March 31 letter
from NMFS Regional Administrators D. Robert Lohn (Northwest) and Rodney
McInnis (Southwest) to Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) Chairman
Donald Hansen. 

The news also comes on the eve of a PFMC meeting later this week, where the
council is widely expected to recommend severe curtailment  -- and possibly
a total shutdown -- of ocean salmon fishing this season off the coasts of
California and Oregon.

In their letter, Lohn and McInnis said, "[A]s you may now be aware, NOAA has
determined that the best available information did not support a declaration
of a commercial fishery failure in 2005. The commercial fishery failure
could not be justified because the commercial fisher's [sic] sales of salmon
either met or exceeded the average value of recent years because the price
to fishermen was high and offset the effects of the more restrictive fishing
seasons.

"Community impacts also were assessed in the disaster consideration and the
2005 economic activity generated by commercial salmon fishing in each of the
ports affected by the restrictions was found to be near the average of
recent years," the administrators said.

A NMFS spokesman confirmed that congressional staff in Washington, D.C.,
were briefed on the decision March 29, and that "calls were made" to
governors. A letter from NMFS Administrator William Hogarth further
explaining the agency's decision is "in the works," according to another
NMFS official.

The decision provoked outrage from the fishing community. 

Gerald Reinholt, an Oregon fish processor and industry representative to the
salmon sub-panel of the PFMC, said, "NOAA doesn't have the right to decide
what a fisherman should make."

"No matter how you look at it, it certainly is a fishery failure," he told
members of the Klamath Fishery Management Council in Sacramento April 3.

According to Reinholt, there are some real dangers in thinking consumers
will keep paying more for wild fish when farmed fish are readily available.
"This party may soon be over," he said. 

Last year, the PFMC recommended severe cutbacks for salmon seasons off the
coasts of California and Oregon. This season's forecasts are even grimmer
and may result in a complete closure of both commercial and recreational
salmon fisheries. The other two options would allow varying levels of
fishing opportunities.

If there is a shutdown, NMFS told PFMC it will "analyze the projected
impacts of the 2006 ocean salmon management measures as soon as those
measures are established."

On March 28, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski hosted an "emergency summit" in
Salem on the expected closure of Oregon's salmon season, seeking upfront
commitments to "bring relief to the families, businesses and towns affected
by this problem." He said he was sending a letter to Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez asking him to declare the 2006 ocean fishery an economic
disaster.

He further promised to get Gutierrez and Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne,
nominated to be Interior Secretary, to visit the state and "participate in a
dialogue about the 'inseparable connection' between federal management
decisions in the Klamath Basin and federal responsibility to manage salmon
and marine stocks. That dialogue should examine the question of how many
Klamath fall Chinook must return every year to maintain their viability."

At issue are record-low numbers of fall-run Chinook salmon originating in
the Klamath River. What's particularly vexing to fishers is that the ocean
is teeming with other salmon, especially those reared in the Sacramento
River. However, because anglers can't distinguish which silver-sided fish
was born in which river, NMFS manages on the basis of what it calls "weak
stock," meaning fishing regulations are set to protect the weakest, or least
abundant, salmon populations. 

Klamath stocks aren't major contributors to the ocean salmon fishery.
Depending on the area and time of year, they can account for less than 1
percent and up to 10 percent of the catch off California and Oregon. But
when Klamath salmon abundance levels are low -- even if other stocks are
abundant -- West Coast ocean salmon fisheries are faced with severe
regulatory closures, a scenario that fishers and the agencies that oversee
them say appears unlikely to improve anytime soon.

http://www.eswr.com/206/nmfstopfmclet33106.pdf Letter to PFMC from NMFS
Regional Administrators (3/31/06)
http://www.pcffa.org/SalmonDisasterLetter.pdf Letter to DOC Secy. Carlos
Gutierrez from 37 members of Congress (5/12/05)
http://www.pcffa.org/Salmondisaster.pdf Similar letter from Rep. Mike
Thompson (D-Wash.) to Gutierrez (5/3/05)
http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/sound/govsalmonsummit.wav Recent audio clip
from Kulongoski 
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june06/salmon_4-3.html Story
from PBS Online NewsHour (4/3/06)

Copyright Poplar Publishing/Endangered Species & Wetlands Report 2006


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