Salmon's sad state: Short season highlights fishery's woes

Commercial fishermen plying North Coast waters for salmon this weekend are, with the rare exception, hauling in nothing but disappointment.

Setting out from Bodega Bay and other ports into an ocean expanse stretching from Santa Barbara to Crescent City, they packed hopes that their first fishing season in two years might herald a change in fortunes that have dwindled over a decade.

But waters once teeming with salmon are yielding little but pessimism about the health of the once-abundant fishery.

"It's the slowest I think anybody's ever seen — it's the slowest I've ever seen," said Charlie Beck, a Bodega Bay fisherman for 32 years.

Beck said he caught four salmon Thursday, the opening of the second four-day fishing period allowed this month by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which regulates the fishing seasons.

The fishery council decided in April to allow a short commercial season — after banning it for the previous two years. But many questioned the decision, saying the health of the fishery was uncertain.

"The fishery was controversial to begin with this year. The fishermen were perplexed by the decision, the people that know the science were perplexed," said Bill Sydeman, executive director of the Petaluma-based Farralon Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research.

"I think that even the management council was hoping for something they were uncertain of, because the population is so dramatically reduced," Sydeman said.

Explanations for the decline focus on the health of an ecosystem ranging from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the Pacific Ocean. And concerns over the fishery have prompted a prominent seafood consumer guide to advise against buying wild salmon from off the California and Oregon coasts.

Both commercial and recreational salmon fishing had been banned since 2008 because of dramatic declines in the number of chinook salmon making their way upstream to spawn.

The figures are striking.

In 2002, 800,000 natural and hatchery-raised chinook made their way back up the Sacramento River. Last year, about 40,000 returned, a third of the number state biologists predicted, Sydeman said.

But this year, the fishery council lifted the ban after federal biologists predicted a larger salmon run of about 245,000, 65,000 above the threshold at which they allow a fishing season.

While the recreational season was allowed to open in April and extends through Sept. 5, commercial fishermen were granted only the much briefer season.

The limited opening angered some fishermen, leading them to stay home.

"They only give you eight days, it's a slap in the face," said Steve Carpenter of Bodega Bay, whose family has fished the North Coast seas for four generations. "Most of my family didn't bother rigging up."

"It wouldn't pay," Carpenter said, citing the costs of rigging a boat with fuel and supplies.

The season, "at best, is a token fishery," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations.

"That's why so many fisherman questioned it, why open up? And what we've seen so far is pretty dismal," he said.

Another Bodega Bay fisherman, Al Vail, skipper of the Argo, went out Thursday but decided to return by Friday.

"I never caught a fish," he said. "I've never seen a year like this, and I've been fishing for 45 years."

Vail said that since May he's fished seven days as part of a federal program to take DNA samples of fish, and that in total he caught perhaps 18 salmon.

"It's sad, you know," he said.

While the season opened July 1, stiff winds forced many boats to stay in port.

Of perhaps a half-dozen boats that went out July 4, one caught four fish and the others caught none at all, said Chuck Wise, another veteran Bodega Bay fisherman.

"It's pretty much that way up and down the coast," he said. "It's worse than bad. In July we should have an abundance of fish off Bodega Bay. Boats going out should get 60, 80, 100 fish."

For some, though, the season, short as it is, has so far proved worthwhile.

"Things could be worse," Dave Bitts, a Eureka fisherman, said Friday. "It's a beautiful ocean, it's not totally devoid of fish. What few fish there are are really nice, fat, well-fed creatures."

Bitts, who was fishing off Shelter Cove with about 20 other boats, wouldn't divulge his catch but said, "If I can average what I did yesterday, it'll be worth it. As long as I can have a reasonable chance of doing double digits."

And some sportfishing captains — who, with shorter lines and fewer hooks, can fish shallower waters — also report good catches.

"We've had some decent days off and on," said Rick Powers, captain of the New Sea Angler out of Bodega Bay. On Thursday, he said, "The recreational guys, the sport fleet, caught the heck out of them."