Local fishermen, Salmon, the Klamath River

[pinto]

Interesting article about local salmon fishermen and competing interests...this is an ongoing issue here on the coast in CA

Posted on Tue, Apr. 25, 2006

Local fishermen face dismal salmon season, starting Monday

Federal fishing cutbacks to protect struggling salmon stocks from the Klamath River will likely amount to a blow to the county's fleet and to those who depend on the sea for their livelihoods

By David Sneed
[e-mail]

Drastic cutbacks in the number of salmon that fishermen can catch this year are likely to make this season the worst in memory at Morro Bay’s commercial fishing docks.

"It’s a pretty dismal scene," said Marlyse Battistella, who operates the 54-foot-long Preamble with her husband, Craig Barbre, out of Morro Bay.

Despite the gloomy outlook, they and other commercial fishermen are now busy on the docks — checking their gear, weatherproofing their boats and making repairs in preparation for the Monday opening of the Chinook salmon season.

Earlier this month, the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council stopped just short of closing all salmon fishing north of Point Sur to protect struggling salmon stocks from the Klamath River.

Like many local fishermen, Battistella and Barbre rely on salmon for more than half their income.

A closure would have been disastrous for them and the area’s entire fishing fleet.

In an effort to save the fleet, the council recommended that commercial fishermen around Monterey be allowed to catch 75 fish per boat, per week, with no fishing allowed in June.

A boat can catch 75 salmon on a good day. In years past, fishermen have been able to fish continuously from May through September.

The situation is fraught with irony and uncertainty for those who make their living from the sea.

There are plenty of salmon in the ocean. The Sacramento River salmon fishery is doing well.

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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispotribune/14422094.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

[phantom power]

1. Grok the subliminal framing...

"Drastic cutbacks in the number of salmon that fishermen can catch this year are likely to make this season the worst in memory at Morro Bay’s commercial fishing docks."

See, it's not the over-fishing, or the need to avert a salmon population crash, that's the problem. It's those damned commie evironmental regulations.

Clearly, we should just let those good fishermen fish as much as they want. Until there are no more salmon left, and nobody will make a living at it. Ever. That's a much better solution.

[mitchtv]

2. the real problem is neither

it is destruction of habitat ( a solid republican value)

[Dover]

3. The decline of salmon will REALLY hurt their business if they don't

cut back. And these fishermen should be on the front lines of protest against the toxins that are killing them off, or the dams that prevent their spawning.

[pinto]

4. I think one big understated part of this story are the dams on the Klamath

Built to divert water to inland interests, primarily ag concerns. The comparison mentioned between the Sacramento and the Klamath was interesting I thought. The former apparently supports a healthy salmon population, while the other is a spawning dead end.

It's a conflict as old as the development of California - who controls the water.

I don't think mom and pop salmon fishing outfits, like those mentioned in the article, pose a great threat to salmon stocks...I could be wrong, of course. But if the spawn from the Klamath is dying, the problem (and solution) seems to lie in the Klamath.

I support realistic safeguards to fish stocks, statewide. It just seems that inland water interests are conveniently left out of the equation when looking for environmentally sound compromises.

The mention above of ground borne pollutants is a good point as well, in the overall picture.