Not Enough Salmon For Everyone

The state’s fly fishers are on a collision course with commercial salmon fishermen.

The Washington State Federation of Fly Fishers says in a report that “all chinook or coho available for non-tribal harvest in Washington should be allocated to the recreational fishery.”

That’s one of the most logical ways, the federation says, to rebuild the dwindling numbers of chinooks and cohos.

Vernon J. Young, federation president, and Bruce Ferguson, a federation officer, compiled the report and distributed it to member clubs. A high percentage of the state’s fly clubs, as well as some other organizations, are federation members.

They don’t say so in their report, but their solution for rebuilding chinook and coho numbers is similar to that in Initiative 640, which will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot. In fact, Young told this reporter that he and Ferguson expect the state’s fly fishers to draw the same conclusion.

He said fly fishers should vote for Initiative 640.

“Coho and chinook salmon are clearly economically more valuable when harvested by the recreational sector and should be allocated accordingly, beginning in 1996,” the report says.

“The state should make allocation decisions for harvestable coho and chinook based upon maximizing economic benefits to the state and its taxpayers, rather than allowing commercial fishing interests to benefit over citizens.”

The report says that the future of recreational fishing for cohos and chinooks is in jeopardy primarily as the result of “economically disproportionate allocation of the salmon to non-tribal commercial fishing interests” and the decline of natural runs.

Habitat restoration is essential to the survival of salmon runs, the report said, but appropriate allocation of the cohos and chinooks also is important.

“Vital existing spawning and nursery habitat is not being utilized to a great extent because the salmon are being harvested prior to reaching their spawning grounds,” the report says. “Any rational harvest program must include selective fisheries with mandatory wild fish release, where warranted, to end this preposterous situation and allow serious wild salmon restoration.

“Recreational and commercial fishing methods that do not allow for essentially unharmed release of all unmarked (wild) fish must be declared unlawful.”

The federation says studies show that allocation of all cohos and chinooks to the recreational fishery would result in a total value of $292 million, or $89.87 per salmon. Gross value for the commercial fishery if all cohos and chinooks were allocated to it would be about $43.5 million, or $13.42 per salmon.

It costs taxpayers nearly $41 to produce a salmon, the federation says. Sports revenue from each salmon is more than double the amount to produce the fish. On the other hand, the commercial revenue from each salmon is only about one-third the amount spent to produce the fish.

The federation notes that Washington-produced coho and chinook are traded for Canadian-produced sockeye and pink salmon under the terms of a treaty. This, the federation claims, results in an “unwarranted benefit to Washington commercial fishermen at the expense of the resource and the taxpayers, a definite subsidy.

“Washington commercial harvest of Canadian sockeye and pink salmon has an annual ex-vessel value of $22 million, which produces a net economic value of less than $4 million that includes tribal catch.

“By comparison, the cost to Washington taxpayers to produce the chinook and coho traded to the Canadians off the west coast of Vancouver Island is $95 million. How long should citizens tolerate such inequity?

“For 1987-1990, Canada caught an average of 822,000 chinook (produced in U.S. waters), or 36 percent of the total production. Represented in another way, if all of the Canadian-harvested Washington and Columbia River-produced chinook and coho … were caught in the Washington recreational fishery, the benefits to Washington citizens would amount to $89.87 spent per salmon, or $198 million.”

The federation says that Washington’s governor, in future negotiations with Canada, must act in the best interests of Washington, based on economic benefits.

“This means sharply reducing or eliminating Washington’s non-tribal commercial harvest of Canadian sockeye and pink salmon in exchange for allowing our more valuable coho and chinook, now harvested by Canada, to return to Washington waters for substantially increased spawning escapement and harvest by Washington recreationists,” the federation continued.

A few fly clubs have gone on record as supporting Initiative 540. Some clubs are distributing the FFF report and leaving decisions up to individual members.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review