Washington faces brunt of salmon restrictions

SEATTLE – After nearly shutting down salmon fishing off the Oregon and California coasts last year, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council has decided to allow as much fishing as possible in those improved fisheries.

This year’s restrictions fall to the north – off the coast of Washington and in Puget Sound, said Chuck Tracy, salmon staff officer for the council.

“Last year, the area of central Oregon and the California fishers were very constrained. This year, the Klamath Falls chinook has made a turnaround. They have basically as much fishing time as possible,” Tracy said Friday.

He said the length of the Oregon and California season and the quotas set for commercial and recreational fishermen will be close to those of a traditional season.

North of Cape Falcon to the Canadian border, the season is limited to dates in May through September, and the quotas have been cut for commercial fishing. Most recreational fishing has been curtailed as well, but there will be some increases in coho quotas, Tracy said.

The council set an overall non-Indian quota for the Washington fisheries of 32,500 chinook and 140,000 coho for 2007.

“Commercial fisheries catch primarily chinook, so they’re going to face a much tougher time this year,” said Tracy, who said the quotas for Washington fishing were among the lowest since 1994.

He said the council had some difficult negotiations during its meeting in Seattle this week, particularly over the salmon season within Puget Sound.

A commercial fisherman from California expressed anger concerning the negotiation process after the meeting ended in suburban SeaTac, even though the restrictions set by the council would not affect his salmon catch near Eureka, Calif.

Dave Bitts called the restrictions placed on Washington commercial fishing “totally politically motivated” and said government officials did not show scientific proof to support the quotas.