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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Salmon
may be off limits<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.modbee.com/sports/v-rssxml/story/11877601p-12649039c.html">http://www.modbee.com/sports/v-rssxml/story/11877601p-12649039c.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>THE <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">MODESTO</st1:place></st1:City> BEE<a
href="mailto:metro@modbee.com?subject=Salmon%20may%20be%20off%20limits"><br>
By GEORGE SNYDER<br>
BEE STAFF WRITER</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>Last Updated: March 1, 2006,
05:00:14 AM PST</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>If you have vivid memories of summertime treks to the coast to fish for
big, ocean chinook salmon — hang on to them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The memories I
mean. They may be hard to replenish this year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Depending upon
what happens next week when the Pacific Fisheries Management Council meets in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City>, you may not be
able to catch salmon out of the ocean at all in 2006, either commercially or
for sport.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>That's because of
low numbers of chinook salmon returning to the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath
River</st1:place> to spawn for the past two years.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>To make matters worse,
this year's run, expected to reach 29,000 adults, falls way short of the
Council's mandatory 35,000 spawners they figure are needed to sustain the
Klamath fishery.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"And that's
if there is a total recreational and commercial fishing ban from now through
August," said California Department of Fish and Game Associate Marine
Biologist Melodie Palmer-Zwahlen, a member of the department's Ocean Salmon
Project.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"There will
be restrictions on <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> and <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State> salmon fisheries
this season," she said. "We just won't know how extensive they will
be."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Palmer-Zwahlen
said that when the Klamath's basic spawning levels aren't met for three years
in a row — which seems likely this fall — federal law designed to
sustain the fishery kicks in, potentially requiring even further scrutiny and
anti-overfishing regulations by the National Marine Fisheries Service.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Meanwhile,
commercial ocean salmon fishing is currently closed off <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> pending a final decision on this
year's season to be made in April by the PFMC.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Recreational
salmon fishing along the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Central</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType> is scheduled to open on April 1 — before
the final PFMC meet — from Point Arena in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Mendocino</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
and points south.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>How long this
year's recreational season lasts, however, depends once again on the PFMC and
remains anybody's guess.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We just
don't know what we are going to have," said Bob Strickland, the San
Jose-based president of United Anglers of California, and one of three
California members on the PFMC Advisory Panel, one each representing commercial
interests, and north and south state coastal recreational anglers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We will know
a lot more at the end of next week," said Stickland, who plans to attend
the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City>
conference.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Pretty much
everyone agrees that at the heart of the matter lies the Klamath-Trinity river
system, which once regularly produced tens of thousands of chinook salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Like most other
major salmon-producing rivers on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Pacific</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, however, dams,
logging and agriculture have led to greatly diminished spawning habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In recent years,
Klamath fish have suffered even heavier blows, like in September of 2002 when
more than 33,000 salmon died before they could spawn after upstream waters were
diverted by federal officials for agricultural purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Those chickens are
now coming home to roost, or rather, not enough Klamath salmon are coming back
to spawn.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Unfortunately for
Central Coast ocean fishermen, Klamath salmon travel south in the salt water,
mixing with other fish, in particular the much more plentiful chinooks coming
out of the Sacramento River drainage.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Those fish, whose
numbers reached near record highs last year, continue to be plentiful. But the
fish cops don't want Klamath River fish to be caught in the midst of the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> fishery, hence
the threat of shortened or even non-seasons off our coast to protect them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There could be,
however, a silver lining for local salmon anglers planning to fish the <st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place> this fall, one almost as bright as the
great fish they seek.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Klamath salmon
should be heading north when the fall spawning runs commence, leaving the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>, which is not
expected to be closed, to its own fish and fishermen.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"I'm not sure
what the final numbers might be," said Palmer-Zwalenn, "but if they
close the season on ocean fishing, that's going to make fishing in the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> that much
better since there are going to be a lot more fish that never got caught out in
the ocean."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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