Sportfishing firms expect salmon shortage to hurt

By KYLE ODEGARD

Gazette-Times reporter

Oregon Coast communities are bracing for a sharply reduced salmon season for commercial vessels and charter boats.

"I guess I'll be looking for a land job this summer," said Charleston commercial fishermen captain Jeff Reeves, the vice chairman of the Oregon Salmon Commission.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which meets in Seattle today, is expected to curtail the salmon fishery in Oregon and Northern California in response to a collapse in West Coast salmon populations.

The most optimistic fishing season under consideration would allow Oregon trollers a May-only salmon season from roughly Manzanita to Port Orford. The far more productive summer season would be off-limits.

Reeves said he is worried more for the local economy because of charter boat limitations, however. "Huge impact on the tourism industry in our area," he said.

Sport fishermen bring their families to the beach. While they fish, their families stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, rent recreational gear, shop and otherwise support the local economy.

Some people want to go charter fishing only for salmon, a symbol of the state, said Flaxen Conway, an Oregon State University sociology professor and community outreach specialist. "If salmon aren't available, it's going to cause a hardship," she added.

"There aren't a lot of salmon out there, so they need to do something. We're hoping they leave part of the season open for charters, as opposed to commercial," said Tim Harmon, owner of Tradewinds Charters in Depoe Bay.

Harmon said more fishermen have started angling for white-meat fish such as sea bass, because they can catch more of them and they're still good eating.

"Maybe 20 percent of our business is salmon fishermen," he said. Most will settle for something else on their hook, Harmon added.

Only about 300 commercial trollers caught more than $500 worth of salmon in 2006, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife statistics. The total haul for trollers was worth $2.7 million.

Many fishermen don't rely entirely on salmon and harvest other species such as crab, tuna and groundfish.

Reeves, however, worried many fishermen will go bankrupt because of a shortened salmon season, unless there is government assistance.

"That's a chunk of the budget that's not there for fishing families to survive," said Nancy Fitzpatrick, administrator of the Oregon Salmon Commission.

Lincoln County Commissioner Terry Thompson worried about the slashed season's effect on the local economy.

"We've been hurt so bad by cutbacks in the timber industry. With the high price of gas, we don't know what's going to happen to the tourist industry," said Thompson, a commercial fisherman for 50 years. "The last thing we want to see is us start losing fishing jobs." He worried the closures might last for more than one year.

Inland restrictions about salmon in rivers and estuaries weren't considered during the Seattle meetings.

"There hasn't been any decisions on any of those elements," said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "I'm sure there's going to be a discussion."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Kyle Odegard can be contacted at kyle.

odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.