Officials back off on limits to salmon fishing

The Pacific Fishery Management Council has backed away from a total shutdown of ocean salmon fishing off the coasts of California and much of Oregon, instead approving a small harvest for recreational and commercial fleets.

Federal fishery officials initially had recommended a closure of the ocean salmon fishery south of Oregon's Cape Falcon to protect a diminished run of salmon returning to the Klamath River.

The closure would have been a huge blow to commercial trollers and recreational fleets, and their members pleaded for at least a minimal fishery this year and also submitted thousands of written comments to the federal, state and industry officials that sit on the regional council.

At their meeting Thursday in Sacramento, Calif., council members approved a harvest of more than 200,000 salmon to be divided between commercial and recreational fishermen, according to a council statement released to the media. That compares with a harvest of more than 740,000 salmon caught in ocean harvests in 2005.

The Klamath salmon have suffered from disease and other problems in a drainage that has been dammed and tapped for irrigation and other uses. To protect the Klamath runs, the council restricted the length of this year's season and closed some ocean areas in Northern California and Southern Oregon near the mouth of the river. Federal fishery officials said the closures were the broadest imposed on the West coast salmon fishery.

A limited ocean salmon fishery will be allowed north of Cape Falcon in Oregon and also off the Washington coast. In a March meeting, the council considered options for Washington and Northern Oregon that could include a harvest of about 50,000 chinook and 80,000 marked hatchery coho divided between sport and commercial fishermen.

The council's recommendations are being passed on to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries to offer final approval.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com