Salmon fishing declared disaster

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez on Thursday declared commercial salmon fishing a failure off Oregon and California this year, based on sharp harvest cutbacks imposed to protect struggling returns to the Klamath River.

The formal declaration under federal fisheries law, the first since 1992 to come before the end of the fishing season, makes it possible for members of Congress from the two states to move forward on seeking up to $80 million in aid that has been stymied for lack of a declaration.

In a conference call from Washington, D.C., Gutierrez told the governors of Oregon and California and members of Congress from both states that fact-finding last month made it clear the direct losses to fishermen, now estimated at $16 million, were real.

The Commerce estimate was based on projections that fishermen will land only 12 percent of the fish they have averaged the last five years, and despite higher prices, the catch will be worth only 16 percent of the average, Deputy Secretary David Sampson said from Portland.

The declaration applies from Cape Falcon on the northern Oregon Coast to Point Sur near Monterey, Calif., and corresponds to the boundaries of the region where fishing seasons were reduced this year to protect wild Klamath River chinook.

The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations said 1,500 to 2,000 salmon fishermen, including boat owners and crew members, live in the area.

More than 300 Oregon fishermen have already applied for $1 million in direct aid offered by the state of Oregon, and the Small Business Administration has approved $200,000 in low-interest loans in Oregon and California made possible by an earlier declaration of a fishery resource disaster.