Better salmon season expected off West Coast this year, including reopening of Calif. fishery

Stage is set for better West Coast salmon season

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s chinook salmon fishery is likely to be opened this year after two straight closed fishing seasons — but with restrictions, according to recommendations released Thursday by a federal panel.

Fishermen in Oregon and Washington are poised to have an even better season because fish are more abundant there.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council approved three options that outline where West Coast fishermen might be allowed to cast their lines and nets beginning this spring.

There remains a chance that California’s salmon fishery could be closed altogether when the council issues its final decision during a meeting in Oregon next month. However, Council chairman David Ortmann called that possibility unlikely.

“Compared to the last two years, there’s going to be more fishermen back on the water,” Ortmann said after the vote.

If fishing for Sacramento River fall-run chinook salmon is allowed off California’s coast, it would be limited for both commercial and recreational boats. Restrictions on when and where fishermen could travel are proposed because of concern about the decline in chinook over the past three years.

Those restrictions worry some California commercial fishermen, who said they might not be able to make a good living if they can’t be out on the water all summer. For example, fishing wouldn’t be allowed in June when salmon catches are typically high.

“What is being offered is not really what I consider a meaningful season,” said Duncan MacLean, a commercial fisherman based in Half Moon Bay. “Without some assistance, it’s going to be a real tough go.”

Salmon fishing has been closed the last two years off California’s coast, leaving West Coast fishermen with the second-worst year on record.

Even so, commercial and recreational salmon fishing contributed $17 million to the West Coast economy in 2009, according to the council. That was more than twice the amount in 2008 when fishing was also restricted in Oregon.

Congress has allocated $170 million in disaster relief the last two years to help fishing communities in California, Oregon and Washington hurt by the losses.

The prospect for a salmon season in California comes after federal biologists predicted more fall-run chinook will return to the Sacramento River this year.