[env-trinity] Abundant Sacramento and Klamath salmon drive season options

[Dan Bacher]

http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2012/03/08/abundant-sacramento- 
and-klamath-salmon-drive-season-options/

http://www.fishsniffer.com/content/1719-abundant-sacramento-klamath- 
salmon-drive-season-options.html

In the Klamath River, biologists are forecasting four times more  
salmon than last year – and an astounding 15 times more than in  
2006, according to the PFMC. The ocean salmon population is estimated  
to be 1.6 million adult Klamath River fall Chinook, compared to last  
year’s forecast of 371,100.

Photo of the Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting to develop  
season options courtesy of the PFMC.




08_ma.jpg

Abundant Sacramento and Klamath salmon drive season options

by Dan Bacher

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) at its meeting in  
Sacramento on March 7, encouraged by predictions of plentiful salmon  
returns along the West Coast, released three alternatives for ocean  
salmon fisheries including those based on Sacramento and Klamath  
River stocks.

In all three alternatives, the recreational ocean salmon season is  
slated to open on April 7 in the Fort Bragg, San Francisco and  
Monterey areas, from Horse Mountain to the U.S./Mexico Border. There  
are three opening date alternatives – May 1, May 12 and May 26 –  
for the Oregon and California Klamath Management Zones.

After hearing public comment on the alternatives, the Council will  
make a final recommendation at their next meeting in Seattle on April  
1-6.

“It is great to see such a nice rebound for California salmon  
populations and the prospect of good fishing in 2012,” said Council  
chairman Dan Wolford.

“Anglers should be be very happy about the salmon season  
alternatives released Wednesday,” said Craig Stone, owner of the  
Emeryville Sportfishing Center and a member of the Salmon Advisory  
Subpanel of the PFMC. “The salmon population is in a lot better  
shape than it was last year or two years ago. If the pre-season  
projections are close to the actual numbers of fish that return to  
spawn, it should be a banner year also on the Sacramento and Klamath  
rivers.”

Salmon fisheries in California and Oregon look particularly  
promising, due primarily to “good river conditions and excellent  
ocean conditions for salmon,” according to a statement from the  
PFMC. Sacramento, Klamath, and Rogue River Chinook returns are  
expected to be significantly higher than during the past several  
years, and Oregon Coast coho also have a strong forecast.

However, these fishery alternatives are necessarily constrained to  
protect Endangered Species Act-listed Sacramento River winter  
Chinook, now in alarming decline, and Columbia River coho stocks.  
North of Cape Falcon, returns look similar to last year.

Klamath River expected to see record salmon return

In the Klamath River, biologists are forecasting four times more  
salmon than last year – and an astounding 15 times more than in  
2006, according to the PFMC. The ocean salmon population is estimated  
to be 1.6 million adult Klamath River fall Chinook, compared to last  
year’s forecast of 371,100.

This estimate is based largely on the 85,840 two-year-old salmon  
(jacks) that returned to the Klamath in 2011. This is the highest  
number of jacks to return since at least 1978, when recordkeeping began.

“Sacramento stocks are also looking better, with a conservative  
forecast of ocean abundance of 819,400 Sacramento River fall Chinook,  
up from 729,000 last year,” the PFMC said. “Adult spawners in the  
Sacramento system are expected to be at least 436,000. The spawning  
escapement objective is 122,000 – 180,000 adult spawners, and the  
2012 annual catch limit is at least 245,820 spawners.”

The PFMC said these returns are particularly important when seen in  
the context of the last several years, since Klamath and Sacramento  
stocks drive ocean fishing seasons off California and Oregon.

In 2008 and 2009, poor Sacramento returns, spurred by a “Perfect  
Storm” of record water exports out of the California Delta, poor  
ocean conditions and bad federal and state water management, led to  
the largest fishery closures on record. In 2010, returns improved,  
allowing limited commercial fishing season off California.

A total of 200,460 chinook salmon, including 114,741 adults and  
85,719 jacks, returned to the Sacramento, Feather and American rivers  
and their tributaries in the fall of 2011. This number includes both  
hatchery and naturally spawning fish.

The Feather River saw the largest number of fish, 84,518 fish,  
including 53,845 adults and 30,673 jacks. The upper Sacramento saw a  
total of 77,942 fish, including 39,778 adults and 38,164 jacks, while  
the American River reported 38,000 salmon, including 21,118 adults  
and 7,919 jacks.

Winter run and spring chinooks continue to decline

While the fall run chinook has rebounded, the Sacramento River winter  
run chinook salmon, an endangered species under the state and federal  
Endangered Species Acts, declined to its lowest level in the past 10  
years in 2011, due to record water exports out of the California  
Delta and declining water quality. Only 637 adults and 187 jacks, a  
total of 825 fish, came back to the Sacramento to spawn in 2011.

This estimate is derived from a carcass survey conducted on the upper  
Sacramento River and includes winter Chinook captured in the Keswick  
trap, which provides broodstock to Livingston Stone National Fish  
Hatchery.

“For the better part of three years during the fall run collapse,  
there was little or no commercial and recreational fishing for  
salmon,” emphasized Dick Pool, president of Water for Fish. “You  
have to look hard at the environmental and habitat factors for the  
winter run and other runs during that period of time. We know there  
are many problems with salmon habitat in the Delta and upper river,  
flows, temperatures and other factors that these fish have deal with  
to survival.”

The spring chinook run also struggles to survive. Escapement of  
spring Chinook to the Sacramento River system in 2011 totaled 7,400  
fish (jacks and adults), most of which (an estimated 5,431 fish)  
returned to upper Sacramento River tributaries; the remaining 1,969  
fish returned to the Feather River Hatchery.

While the fall run chinook abundance forecasts for the Sacramento and  
Klamath rivers look very promising, the runs of both rivers are  
threatened by the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the  
peripheral canal. A coalition of Delta residents, fishermen, Indian  
Tribes, environmentalists and family farmers is opposing the  
peripheral canal’s construction because it would lead to the  
extinction of native Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River  
chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail,  
green sturgeon, striped bass and southern resident killer whales,  
which feed upon salmon.

The peripheral canal also threatens the salmon runs of the Trinity  
River, the Klamath’s largest tributary, because much of the water to  
be delivered through the canal is expected to come from the Trinity  
via Whiskeytown Reservoir.

Summary of sport and commercial seasons:

Ocean Chinook recreational fishing alternatives in the Brookings/ 
Crescent City/Eureka area open in May and continue into September.

California ocean sport fishing alternatives generally start April 7  
and run through October or November from Fort Bragg south, but size  
limits vary in the San Francisco and Monterey areas to protect ESA- 
listed Sacramento winter-run Chinook.

California commercial fishing alternatives in Crescent City/Eureka  
have quota fisheries in late September or are closed. In Fort Bragg,  
commercial alternatives open in July or August and run through  
September.

In the San Francisco and Monterey areas, alternatives open May 1 and  
run through September with some closures in June. Along the south- 
central coast, season alternatives are open from May 1 through  
September 30.

The Council also included alternatives to collect genetic stock  
identification samples from research fisheries in closed times and  
areas. All fish caught in research fisheries would have to be  
released unharmed after collection of biological samples.

Public hearings to receive input on the alternatives are scheduled  
for March 26 in Westport, Washington and Coos Bay, Oregon; and for  
March 27 in Eureka, California. The Council will consult with  
scientists, hear public comment, and revise preliminary decisions  
until it chooses a final alternative at its meeting during the week  
of April 1 in Seattle, Washington.

At its April 1-6 meeting in Seattle, the Council will narrow these  
options to a single season recommendation to be forwarded to National  
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for their final approval before May 1.

All Council meetings are open to the public, and audio is streamed  
online (for information on how to hear the online audio, go to http:// 
tinyurl.com/7vvxuvg.

For more information, go to:
· Pacific Fishery Management Council: http://www.pcouncil.org
· Options for 2012 salmon management will be posted on the Council  
website (link above) this evening.
· Geographical points used in salmon management: http:// 
www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/geosalmon1.pdf
· Explanation of common terms used in salmon management: http:// 
www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/com_terms_salmon.pdf



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