Northern Cali fishing to be shut down due to devested Klamath run

IMAGINE A YEAR WITHOUT LOCAL SALMON
Fears grow fishing season will be canceled to replenish chinook -- that poster food of California cuisine -- in Klamath River




Stacy Finz, Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writers


Friday, March 3, 2006


 







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Fresh, wild California king salmon will be in short supply this season if federal regulators decide to ban catching the fish along 700 miles of coastline from Monterey to the Oregon border in an attempt to restore the ailing fishery on the Klamath River.

The possibility of the prohibition has fishermen, retailers, restaurateurs and consumers contemplating alternatives to the fish that many of them say has defined California cuisine.

"It's a really luscious fish,'' said Bruce Hill, chef-owner of Picco restaurant in Larkspur and part owner of Bix in San Francisco. "It's high in essential fatty acids, which are good for you. And Californians know that.''

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, an advisory committee for federal fishing regulators, is scheduled to meet next week in Seattle to come up with three options to present to the public before making its final recommendation to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency is expected to issue a ruling by late April, before the season is scheduled to open.

One of those options, said Chuck Tracy, a salmon expert for the council, "will surely be ... a total ban. As far as I know, it would be the first one ever."

Other options include shortening the season and allowing fishing only on some parts of the coast, he said.

A ban on fishing for king salmon, also known as chinook, could cost fishermen, processors and retailers $100 million or more, said Glen Spain, northwest regional director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, a commercial fishing interest group. Last year, fishing interests suffered at least $40 million in losses when the season was cut in half because of declining numbers of Klamath River salmon.

The Klamath fishery is in trouble because of low flows and high water temperatures, Spain said. Warmer water kills fish and encourages a parasite that ravages mature salmon and young smolts, he said.

The Klamath's woes came to a head in 2002, when such conditions killed thousands of mature fish. Now, Spain said, the Klamath's runs are on a downward spiral as a result of water diversions for farming and four dams that "heat up the water like a bathtub."

"Biologists figure the river needs 35,000 spawning salmon annually to maintain populations," he said. "This year, we're below 30,000."

Mike Hudson, a Berkeley fisherman whose wife, Yvette, sells his salmon at farmers' markets in the East Bay, said an outright ban would put the couple out of business.

"We just spent $50,000 on equipment," said Hudson, who is president of the Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermen's Association in California. "Now we may have to find new professions. The whole industry will collapse."

Fisheries advocates say the situation is bitterly ironic, because salmon fans should be celebrating a banner year. The Sacramento River runs are near record levels. Everyone from commercial trollers to recreational moochers, from haute cuisine chefs to backyard barbecuers should be looking forward to a season of abundance.

"We've rebuilt the Sacramento runs over a decade through habitat restoration and increased flows, and this is the time people should be reaping the rewards," said Barry Nelson, a senior policy adviser for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It's a tragedy that everyone now has to suffer because of the situation on the Klamath."

But because Klamath and Sacramento River fish mingle freely in the ocean, fishermen can't troll for Sacramento salmon without the possibility of hooking a Klamath fish, Spain said.

Last year, when the catch was down by 160,000 fish, Paul Johnson, owner of the Monterey Fish Market in Berkeley, watched retail salmon prices increase by $2 per pound. At the same time, he said, he's seen the demand for fresh, wild salmon grow tenfold.

"People have really become educated about not buying the farm-raised,'' he said. "It's the wild salmon that has defined local cuisine."

Johnson suspects that demand will go down if the fish keeps going up in price or if it's coming from anywhere other than California.

"My customers know the difference and like the fact that it's local," he said. Alaska salmon, according to Johnson, is not the same quality as California's king salmon.

Parke Ulrich, executive chef for Farallon restaurant in San Francisco, which specializes in seafood, said patrons would sorely miss the California fish.

"It's one of the great local products," he said. "Tourists see all the water and say, 'Where is all the local fish?' "

If there is a ban, Ulrich said, the restaurant has a good contact for Alaska salmon and will use it. He said the Alaska king season lasts from May until July, sockeye from June to August and coho from August until October, which will cover the restaurant for the summer salmon rush. Alaska's sockeye is considered by many to be the most delicate and delicious of the salmon family, Ulrich said. He described Alaska's coho salmon as a lighter fish than the king with slightly lower fat content but a similar flavor.

Ulrich said he's sure other restaurants would vie for Alaska's fish. He expects prices to soar. Farmed salmon, many chefs and retailers say, is not an alternative because the way the fish are raised degrades the coast and the species.

Hill, the Larkspur chef, said farmed salmon often are missing gills and have misshapen heads.

"As a cook seeing it on a cutting board, it just doesn't look right," he said.

He'll miss California's wild salmon if there is a ban. About a quarter of the diners at Bix order it when it's featured on the menu, he said, and at Picco, 20 percent of his clientele like a salmon appetizer or entree.

"But it won't be the end of the world," he said. "I'll look at other fish or perhaps an interesting vegetable dish as a replacement.''

Nelson, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the situation on the Klamath can be reversed, allowing the return of an abundant salmon harvest. But he said it will take commitment and money from the public and private sectors.

"We restored the Sacramento fishery, we're trying to do the same on the San Joaquin River," he said, "and we can certainly restore the Klamath. We just have to be willing to give the fish the cold water and the spawning habitat they need."

E-mail the writers at sfinz [at] sfchronicle.com and glenmartin [at] sfchronicle.com.

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