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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>'</span></font><b><font size=5><span style='font-size:20.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The fish aren't there'<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:20.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3534818">http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3534818</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=articlebyline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>John Driscoll <o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=articlebyline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Times-Standard</span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;display:none'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>EUREKA</span></font></st1:City> -- A group that
advises federal fisheries managers has put off what will likely be a painful
recommendation to severely limit or altogether restrict Klamath River and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
fishing. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
Klamath Fisheries Management Council decided on Tuesday to make a
recommendation instead in March, just prior to the Pacific Fisheries Management
Council. It is faced with the fact that there are not enough <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath
River</st1:place> salmon swimming in the ocean to meet the minimum needed for
spawning the next generation. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
Pacific council will draw up regulations for this coming year for sport and
commercial fisheries in the ocean. The California Fish and Game Commission will
draft rules for fishing in the Klamath later. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>”They're
just waiting to see how big that pie will be,” said California Department
of Fish and Game Klamath council representative Neil Manji. “If there's
any pie at all.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Some
members of the council and the public said they still want the council to
explore what a reduced fishery would look like. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Eureka</st1:City></st1:place> commercial fishing representative Dave
Bitts said his goal is to figure out how to have some kind of commercial salmon
season. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But Yurok
Tribe biologist Dave Hillemeier said the tribe isn't ready to make any
recommendation on fishing before this year's “alarming” projections
are considered by the tribal government. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Some
35,000 wild chinook must be allowed to get up the Klamath to spawn. This year,
there are only about 29,000. If fishing regulations like last year's were used,
only 18,700 would make it up the river to spawn. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>That
follows two years in which too few wild fish made it up the river, which will
trigger an overfishing review by the Pacific council. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But some,
like fisher Marge Salo, said water quality, poor flows and diseases in the
river are the heart of the problem. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>”The
fish aren't there to catch to begin with,” she said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Others
point to the 2002 fish kill, which wiped out a large portion</span> of the
Klamath run, and whose offspring are returning. Ocean conditions were also
extremely poor, with no upwelling occurring -- upwelling drives the ocean food
chain -- until mid-summer. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Still
others believe there is a predatory element. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Eureka</st1:City></st1:place> fisherman Glen Councilman outside the
meeting showed off photos of giant masses of sea lions at the mouth of the
Klamath. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>”I'm
not saying it's the only problem,” he said. “But it's a problem and
nobody wants to talk about it.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>One of
the key elements in the 2006 predictions is the small number of 2-year-old fish
that came up the river in 2005. Only 2,300 of 65,579 chinook were jacks -- the
second lowest since 1978, said Fish and Game biologist Sarah Borok. That small
percentage also applied to the Klamath's important tributaries, the Trinity,
Salmon and Scott rivers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Trinity River</span></font></st1:place> fishing guide
E.B. Duggan asked the council to recommend a restricted season similar to last
year's, because a closure would hurt tourist businesses that have had a hard
time recently. But he agreed that it is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't
scenario. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Klamath
council Chairman Curt Melcher said any recommendation must also consider tribal
trust responsibilities, market availability of salmon, endangered species and
other factors. Melcher said that no fishing would likely be presented as the
worst-case option in a range of options when the issue is raised again in March.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The Klamath council meeting continues today at 8:30 a.m. at the Red
Lion Inn.</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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