Fishermen Ask Ah-nold For Salmon Emergency Declaration

[hatrack]

"California salmon fishermen are asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a disaster declaration after this year's salmon season has been all but terminated.

Eureka commercial fisherman Dave Bitts asked the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Tuesday to take the first step, asking Schwarzenegger for the declaration. That could make fishermen and fishing businesses eligible for federal disaster relief. The commercial season opens in the Monterey Bay area on May 1, but there's no guarantee the fish will be there. The most local season doesn't begin until September, pushing Humboldt and Del Norte county fishermen to motor south for days to get a crack at the fish.

"The expense of going down there to find out if there's fish is so great," Bitts said, "a lot of us won't go." He estimated it would take him 40 hours to reach the area where salmon season opens in May. It's the most restrictive season since 1992, but it's not because there aren't any salmon. It's because projected runs on the Klamath are so poor, regulators can't allow them to be caught as ocean fishermen plunder bountiful Sacramento River stocks that mix with Klamath fish.

Fishermen point to two fish kills on the Klamath in 2002 as devastating to the fishery. The first occurred in spring of that year, killing perhaps 200,000 young salmon. The next happened in the fall, when up to 68,000 adult salmon died in the river. Analyses of the later event found low flows and warm water at the heart of the fish kill."

EDIT

http://www.record-bee.com/Stories/0,1413,255~33911~2838440,00.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. We need a 5 year moratorium on salmon fishing. Ban sport fishing

and make compensatory payments to professional fishermen who would lose their livlihood during the time of the moratorium.

If the fishery is not allowed to replenish itself, it will be gone, and gone is forever.

[yashuryabetcha]

2. Agreed!!!!!!!

[BearClaws]

6. HUH?

[blindpig]

5. don't know about compensation payments

I'd see that the crews get extended unemployment bennies but don't know about the boat owners. I am not familar with this particular situation but in most cases like this overfishing is a good part of the problem. Too many boats, too high quotas(lobbied for by the industry).

Just another chapter in the Tragedy of the Commons.

[Throckmorton]

3. Why not do away with this Hunter/Gatherer activity all together?

Fishing is the last wide scale H/G activity on earth.

[BearClaws]

4. Question?????????

Have you guys been to any healthy salmon streams lately?
I am a fishing fanatic, and granted the streams and river I fish are bolstered by hatchery programs, you can nearly walk on the Chinook salmon during the fall run.
I routinely catch and release nearly a hundred a year on the average.
I fish several prolific salmon runs in Northern California.
The steelhead are also in good shape up here.
The broad statement of "endangerment" doesn't do your cause much good when the reality is witnessed.
YES, certain runs or populations need help, but you're way off on the generalizations.