Salmon-Fishing Limits May Not Be Expanded

A year after imposing the tightest restrictions on Pacific salmon fishing in history, federal regulators can’t offer much hope of better times ahead for sport and commercial fishermen.

Even the meager offerings under consideration by the Pacific Fishery Management Council could be reduced, depending on steps to protect endangered salmon from the Snake River.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is due to come out this week with a recovery plan for Snake River fall chinook that includes harvest restrictions.

Because the Snake River fall chinook roams the ocean from Northern California to Alaska - it’s the most widely distributed of the Pacific salmon - those restrictions stand to affect ocean fishing up and down the coast, said Jim Martin, chief of fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and a member of the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Ocean seasons for sport and commercial fishermen from Washington, Oregon and Northern California will also depend on how much of the sacrifice is shared by Alaskan and Canadian fishermen, Martin added.

Options being considered by the Pacific Fishery Management Commission include the possibility of some commercial and recreational fishing for coho off Washington and northern Oregon, while maintaining last year’s ban on the rest of the coast.

Projected catch levels for chinook are the same or slightly better off California and southern and central Oregon, but still would be zero off northern Oregon and Washington for both recreational and commercial fishermen. Indian tribes have a chance at getting some chinook off Washington, as they did last year.

The council adopted the options for salmon seasons last week and is holding public hearings at the end of this month before gathering in Portland April 3-7 to make final decisions.

Due to a crash in salmon runs, the council last year outlawed nearly all fishing for coho up and down the West Coast, while severely restricting fishing for chinook. Off Washington and northern Oregon, chinook fishing was limited only to Indian tribes with treaty fishing rights.

The council attributed the crash primarily to ocean conditions that produced less food for salmon, but acknowledged losses to hydroelectric dams and loss of fresh water habitat as well.