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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 24, 2005 Coastal town concerned about ocean angling proposals By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune BROOKINGS — During the first four days of July, this fishing town on Oregon’s extreme southwestern end is the place Oregon’s ocean anglers want to catch a chinook salmon, one of the sea’s greatest gifts. But it appears likely that July 5 will come with a big hangover for summer ocean anglers and this city that depends upon them. The Oregon ocean waters south of Humbug Mountain are expected to be open to chinook angling only the first four days of July. The season would then close until mid-August under proposed ocean salmon-fishing seasons that whittle out Southern Oregon’s best offshore salmon- fishing days. "It’s bleak," says Jim Welter, a Brookings-based sportfishing advocate. "Everybody will be here until July 4th, then they’ll go to Port Orford or Coos Bay to fish for salmon. Advertisement "It’s going to further damage the Oregon coastal economy and it’ll magnify all the problems we have with the economy on the coast." Draft recreation and commercial seasons off the Southern Oregon and Northern California coasts were recently crafted by the Pacific Fishery Management Council with an eye toward getting as many chinook into the Klamath River to spawn as necessary. The ports of Brookings and Gold Beach fall under the draft seasons for the Klamath Management Zone. The zone encompasses the waters from Humbug Mountain near Port Orford south to Horse Mountain near Manzanita, Calif. The PFMC is taking public comment on its proposed seasons through April 5, when the federal advisory council is set to adopt the seasons during a meeting in Tacoma. Though there are four options, they are all identical for the Oregon side of the KMZ. The proposal is for the season to open May 21 and run through July 4. After a six-week break, the season would re-open Aug. 14 and run through Sept. 11. The limits remain two chinook a day, with a 24-inch minimum. If adopted, the season would offer chinook fishing in the ocean during all the summer holidays, a key element coastal fishing-related businesses believe they need to lure anglers from the Rogue Valley. The zone’s seasons are managed so that 36,000 chinook "escape" the various sport, commercial and tribal fishing seasons and spawn in the basin. Since Klamath fish mill around in the ocean with salmon from stronger basins like the Rogue and Chetco rivers, the ocean chinook have to be managed to protect the weakest fish stock. During last year’s season, which coast-wide was the best in 15 years, resulted in 10,000 fewer spawners in the Klamath. The Klamath Management Zone does not operate with a catch quota; the zone is given a number of fishing days based on catch so there are no mid-season closures like in past years. The fish numbers translated into the loss of most of July, and Welter says that’s for a reason. July is the best month to fish for chinook in the ocean here, and the daily catch rates are bigger than any other month. In fact, Oregon could have traded its four days in July and gotten eight more fishing days in May, when catches are substantially lighter. "You have to take a lot of days off in May and June to make up for July," Welter says. "Frankly, I’d rather have four days in July to have a chance to catch some fish." Two of the four PFMC options call for splitting the KMZ into two sections — Oregon and California. The proposal for the Oregon side are the same as the other options, but the California side differ by open dates. Those options exist because California is mulling whether to increase the Klamath River’s in-stream catch from 15 percent of the overall catch to 20 percent. If the in-river catch is increased, the extra salmon must come from the recreational catch in the ocean. The split-season options ensure that any in- river catch comes at the expense of California’s ocean sport-anglers, not those fishing in Oregon waters. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy online casino Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Reservationstogo Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Natto Kinase Nattokinase Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Investments & Loans Advertisement s