[env-trinity] Where have all the salmon gone? State committee discusses impacts of low runs

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20170524/where-have-all-the-salmon-gone-state-committee-discusses-impacts-of-low-runs

Where have all the salmon gone? State committee discusses impacts of low runs

Local, state experts discuss impacts, causes of unprecedented low runs
By Will Houston, Eureka Times-StandardWednesday, May 24, 2017Already faced with unprecedented low numbers of returning salmon and drastically reduced fishing allowances, California’s fishing fleets and communities are not expected to find any relief in the next few years, according to testimony by a host of experts and regulators at the State Capitol on Wednesday.“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” Pacific Fishery Management Councilwoman Marci Yaremko said at the California Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture hearing at the State Capitol on Wednesday.
The impacts
Wednesday’s committee hearing — titled “Where Have All the Salmon Gone?” — brought together a host of fishery experts, tribal representatives, fishermen and state regulators to discuss what led to the low numbers of returning salmon, the impact on fishing fleets and communities and what to expect in the years to come.The hearing was held nearly a week after the environmental organization CalTrout and UC Davis released a report stating that nearly 75 percent of the state’s 31 salmon, steelhead and trout species face extinction in the next century if current trends continue.“We can’t afford to make more mistakes,” North Coast Assemblyman and committee Chairman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) said. Commercial and recreational salmon fishing has been drastically reduced across the coastline this year or completely closed as is the case in waters between Humboldt County and southern Oregon. The Pacific Fishery Management Council — which provides recommendations on commercial and recreational fishing allowances to federal regulators — expects to designate the Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon fishery as being overfished in 2018, according to Yaremko. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines an “overfished” fishery as being when the population size of a fish stock is too low, “whether because of fishing or other causes such as environmental changes.”Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association President Roger Thomas said he has spoken with several fishermen in Eureka and Crescent City who expect to lose up to 70 percent of their annual income due to the salmon fishing closures.Those fishermen who have ventured down to more southerly waters in the hopes of making some money this year are not having much luck, with some packing up their gear after a couple of days of little to no catch, according to Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations Executive Director Noah Oppenheim. The associations’ president and Eureka resident David Bitts was on an advisory team that helped craft this year’s salmon fishing restrictions.“From what I’ve heard, from the rates of catch so far, I’m not so confident we did the right thing by allowing any fishing at all because the rates of catching are very poor and efforts are dropping off,” Bitts said, before sighing heavily. “People are going to have to find other things to do.”While other fisheries are available, such as halibut, Bitts said they will not be enough to make up for the loss of the state’s salmon fisheries.Representatives from the Karuk, Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes traveled to Sacramento to testify on the impacts to their communities, which have relied on salmon throughout their history. The Yurok Tribe — California’s largest federally recognized tribe of over 6,000 members — was allocated 650 fish this year compared to the thousands they have received in previous years.Tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr. said that this allocation will only be enough to provide some food to tribal elders and for ceremonies. Meanwhile, he said that the tribe’s and the town of Klamath’s economy will be significantly impacted as fishermen remain off the water, hotels and campgrounds go empty and tourists stop showing up.“It’s not just the fish that are in danger of becoming extinct. It’s my people,” O’Rourke said. “It’s a people. It’s a way of life. That’s how it impacts our people. It hurts when I talk about it.”
The causes
Federal, state and tribal researchers said Wednesday that unprecedented warm ocean temperatures between 2014 through 2016, the five-year drought and federal river management practices played a significant role in the survival of salmon.Federal oceanographic researchers stated that climate change could cause ocean temperatures to rise significantly within the next 20 years.For the Klamath River Basin, Karuk Tribe Natural Resources Policy Advocate Craig Tucker attributed the decline in salmon to “150 years of bad decision-making”, poor land management and unregulated groundwater pumping and irrigation. “I think it’s becoming increasingly clear to me that we’re basically allowing salmon to be reprocessed into timber and electricity and gold and alfalfa and, increasingly, marijuana,” Tucker said.Yurok Tribe Fisheries Director Dave Hillemeier stated that low flows in 2014 and 2015 allowed a intestinal parasite to thrive and infect between 80 to 90 juvenile Coho and Chinook salmon on the Klamath River. Hillemeier said there is a “glimmer of hope” that this year’s heavy rains will allow more juveniles to survive.This year’s low salmon runs are attributed to the low juvenile survival rates from years past, which are also expected to result in low runs in 2018 and 2019, federal fisheries biologist Michael O’Farrell said.Hoopa Valley Tribe Councilwoman Vivienna Orcutt questioned some of the actions taken to rectify water rights disputes between tribes and irrigators in the Klamath River Basin, such as the now-expired Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, stating that they did not do enough to protect tribal trust resources and prevent the decline of fish populations.“We have to reverse actions taken under the KBRA that reduce flows, make the Klamath River a breeding ground for disease that left unchecked could be a lethal blow to our fisheries stocks,” she said.A proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River starting in 2020 to improve water quality and renew fish habitat is currently being considered by the federal government. But Tucker said that the hundreds of irrigation projects in the Klamath Basin are what control the flows of the river, and ultimately the fate of the fish.
The next steps
Committee Chairman and North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) opened Wednesday’s hearing by saying California is facing a new reality.“We are in a constant fishery disaster here in the Golden State,” McGuire said.McGuire, Wood and California 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman have called on Gov. Jerry Brown to ask the U.S. Department of Commerce to declare a fisheries disaster for the 2017 salmon season to allow federal relief funds to make up for some of the fleet’s losses.McGuire and other speakers also expressed concerns about potential rollbacks of environmental protections on salmon by President Donald Trump’s administration.Senate Bill 49 is currently being considered by the Legislature would make all current federal clean air, climate, clean water, worker safety and endangered species standards enforceable under state law.Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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