Monterey
2009-02-20 04:32:08
I read today in the SF Chronicle that we had the lowest salmon returns in years.. only like 69,000 (less than last year's returns), when they want a minimum of 180,000 to be sustainable. So one official mentioned that a closed season was almost guaranteed (I'm paraphrasing from memory). Do any of you have more information, or know more about this?
Capt. Midnite
2009-02-20 05:16:34
Monterey, the final determination won't be made until March, with those kind of returns there won't be a season in 09, and likley not until 2012. You can chock it all up to inept management, poor biology, short sighted morons who have probably never spent a day away from the dock. It's shameful, and I feel partly responsible, we never organized ourselves to fight any of the bad decisions that were made in Calif. I believe that the state has no real intention to restore commercial salmon fishing, when it's all said and done, the commercial fleet in the lower 48 will be gone and the resource, or what's left of it will go the way of the sport fisherman. To all of the beurcrats I say thanks for destroying a vital lifeline for all the costal communities, there's going to be a lot lost, that we will never get back, Alaska I'm sure your listening, don't make the same mistakes that we did.
Salty
2009-02-20 05:41:43
Lots of trollers here at the BOF working hard. I personally gave two BOF members rides to various places today. Personally talked to several of them.
Guided sport fish here in force. Makes for an interesting mix. We will see how it all works out.
Eric
ashadu
2009-02-22 03:00:06
The tragedy of the calif. salmon fishery lies in the fact that no one except the fishermen wanted it to be successful. The dept of the interior which has a seat the council, is also over b. of indian affairs-think Hupa and Yurok reservations straddeling the Klamath river i.e. water for vally rice. think of Water and Reclamation which sells the sacramento water to the central vally farmers. finally think minerals management which held a grudge from the early 80's against the fort bragg fishermans assc. for thier involvment stopping deep water geode mining of the mendecino ridge. the fishery costs cal fish and game more money than they make on it . oregons trawl rep to the council didnt care, thought trollers were scum and weyhouser had stripped all the logs out of oregon and thought they should get the salmon also. the chilean stocks of kings came right from calif. stock. and of course our buddies in the supermarket trade didnt help either. what we could have done differently is only apparent in hindsight. we should have built a political base amongst consumers, we should have built a coalition with small family farms in the vally that were being screwed by govt subsidized corperate farms. we should have sponsored college student internships to see the non academic side of fisheries and fisheries management. I know nothing of the political challenges that are specific to alaskas' fisheries. I do know that life essential question that each of us has to answer dayly is "what can I do For you?" If you are a cornerstone of the community, as you are in alaska, you have a great chance to survive. I am enjoying this site immensly and hope to meet some of you who post here in sitka this spring and summer. ashadu fred
salmontroll
2009-02-22 05:47:29
What do you think about the cyclic nature of the California and Oregon salmon troll fishery? It seems to cycle back and forth from boom to bust from what I've seen.
ashadu
2009-02-23 03:54:42
Dear Salmontroll, cal salmon is a function of downstream survival. upstream numbers to hatcheries give great smolt count but sierra snowmelt is diverted to agriculture and smolts making thier way downstream are killed by being pumped into someones field. or they get stuck in the delta and never make it to the confluence of fresh and saltwater. Past boom years from 1980 on have been boosted by our program that trucks smolts to pens in s.f. bay and acclemates them to the saltwater while feeding them to a certain size and then releasing them into the bay adjacent to the ocean. worked good until a few years ago the underwater release broke so the started releasing the smolts out of the top of the net. where the birds, sealions, and stripped bass ate them. might have worked at night if the had turned of all the lights, but then someone whould have had to work at night, inconvienient. pen was fixed last year with fereral salmon disaster funds and 20 million smolts were released into a very healthy ocean. jack returns in 2010 will determine if thier is a season brlow reyes. Klamoth river stocks are also dependant on downstream success. fand g has killed the smolt releases at least 3 times I can remember since 1980 by releasing too many fish into hot water with low oxygen content. millions of hatchery smolts dead. for some reason thier is resistance to trucking downstream on the klamoth. dam removal and stream reconstruction seem to be preffered. but remember its about the water and the water is worth more on someones lawn or lettece than a salmon. I represented my port in the 80s and early 90s to the pmfc council meetings and other state and local meetings and the farther one gets from the port the less people care about the welfare of the port. maybe calif. salmon will rise again. If they do alaska kings will suffer as we fight to win the market back from farm fish and gillnet product. im done in calif. and have been for ten years and I dont imagine Ill ever fish here again. hope that was not to negative for you. ashadu
Salty
2009-02-23 06:03:25
I am one Alaska fisherman who would gladly give up a little bit of price in exchange for healthy California king salmon runs. But, I don't think it comes to that. Good numbers of wild troll caught king salmon from sustainable stocks will likely find good markets for the foreseeable future. Good luck in the ongoing battle to restore these runs.