SEATTLE, Washington, February 6, 2009 (ENS) – The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously Thursday to prohibit all commercial fishing activity in U.S. waters north of the Bering Strait and east to the Canadian border.

If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, this precautionary approach would close roughly 150,000 square nautical mile Arctic Management Area to commercial fishing, and is intended to provide an opportunity to assess the impacts of climate change on Arctic ecosystems before any commercial fishing is allowed.

The council has already closed an additional 527,110 square nautical miles off Alaska. In total, the area closed to protect fish habitat would cover an area more than five times larger than the entire U.S. National Park System.

To date, no large-scale commercial fishing occurs in the Arctic, and large fish populations do not show up on the few surveys conducted there, but global warming is melting the Arctic sea ice for longer periods each year, potentially enticing cold water fish further north than in the past.

Meeting in Seattle, the 15 member council represents government and industry fisheries experts from Alaska, Washington and Oregon and the U.S. government.

The council’s action today concludes a nearly two year process of deciding what action to take while a management plan is developed for the waters north of Bering Strait.

Spring ice pack on the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait (Photo courtesy NOAA)

The Marine Conservation Alliance, a Juneau-based association of fishermen, processors and communities involved in the groundfish and crab fisheries off Alaska, said it fully supports the council’s action to close all commercial fishing in waters north of the Bering Strait until a management plan is fully developed.

“Climate change is having a significant effect on the Arctic, opening previously ice-covered waters and drawing cold water species further north,” said MCA executive director Dave Benton.

A resolution passed by the U.S. Senate last year supported a halt to commercial fishing in the Arctic until agreement is reached on managing migratory, transboundary and straddling stocks among all nations bordering the Arctic, including the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, and the European Union.

Benton said, “The Council’s action to close these waters as a precautionary measure gives us the opportunity to conduct the scientific review necessary to develop a plan for how sustainable fisheries might be conducted in the Arctic in the future,” he said. “Hopefully a similar precautionary approach will be adopted by other nations that border the Arctic.”

The council says it will maintain a continuing review of the environment in the Arctic Management Area and will periodically review the provisions of the Fisheries Management Plan that implements the closure.

The council plans to maintain “close liaison” with the management agencies involved, particularly the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and National Marine Fisheries Service, but also including regional resource management entities in the Arctic Management Area such as the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, the Eskimo Walrus Commission, and the North Slope and Northwest Arctic Boroughs, to monitor the development of commercial fishery potential.

The council will promote research to increase knowledge of the marine environment and fishery resources of the Arctic Management Area, including birds and marine mammals, either through council funding or by recommending research projects to other agencies.

The council says it is “particularly interested in research that improves understanding of the Arctic ecosystem, predator-prey relationships, energy flow, and how climate warming affects these processes.”

Also planned are public hearings and outreach to Arctic natives and communities to hear testimony on the ecological relationships in the Arctic Management Area and the potential for commercial fishery development and management.

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SEATTLE, Washington, April 10, 2008 (ENS) – The Pacific Fishery Management Council today closed the commercial and sport chinook fisheries off the coast of California and most of Oregon and will allow only a 9,000 fishery for hatchery coho only off of Central Oregon.

The council adopted the most restrictive salmon fishing quotes in the history of the West Coast in response to the unprecedented collapse of the Sacramento River fall chinook salmon population and the exceptionally poor status of coho salmon from Oregon and Washington.

The recommendation will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval by May 1, 2008.

“This is a disaster for West Coast salmon fisheries, under any standard,” said council chairman Don Hansen. “There will be a huge impact on the people who fish for a living, those who eat wild-caught king salmon, those who enjoy recreational fishing, and the businesses and coastal communities dependent on these fisheries.”

The council said in a statement that while it cannot explain why the fish are not returning, it is clear that overfishing did not cause the depressed condition, as the parent spawning populations were all above their escapement goal.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has suggested ocean temperature changes, and a resulting lack of upwelling, as a possible cause of the sudden decline.

Many biologists believe a combination of human-caused and natural factors will ultimately explain the collapse, including both marine conditions and freshwater factors such as in-stream water withdrawals, habitat alterations, dam operations, construction, pollution, and changes in hatchery operations.

The Council has requested a multi-agency task force led by the National Marine Fisheries Service’s West Coast Science Centers to research about 50 potential causative factors and report back to the Council at the September meeting in Boise, Idaho.

The Sacramento River fall chinook stock is the driver of commercial and recreational salmon fisheries off California and most of Oregon, the council says.

“The reason for the sudden decline of Sacramento River fish is a mystery at this time,” said Council Executive Director Don McIsaac. “The only thing that can be done in the short term is to cut back the commercial and recreational fishing seasons to protect the remaining fish.”

Small tributaries of the Sacramento River
like this one are supposedly good salmon
rearing habitat, but few salmon are
expected there this year.
(Photo courtesy USFWS)

“The longer-term solution will involve a wide variety of people, agencies, and organizations,” said McIsaac. “But for now, unfortunately, those involved in the salmon fisheries are paying the price.”

Salmon fisheries off California and Oregon typically have been large – involving seasons from May 1 to October 31 and average over 800,000 chinook caught per year from 2000 to 2005.

But this year, although chinook quotas in the area north of Cape Falcon in northern Oregon are similar to 2007 and chinook stocks are generally more abundant, depressed natural coho stocks are constraining access of commercial fisheries to the chinook salmon, the council said.

Sport fisheries, many of which depend on coho salmon, are even more restricted. Coho quotas are less than 20 percent of the 2007 season for non-Indian fisheries and about 50 percent of 2007 levels for treaty-Indian fisheries.

The closures south of Cape Falcon are due to a sudden, unprecedented decline in the number of Sacramento River fall chinook returning to the river this year.

The minimum conservation goal for Sacramento fall chinook is 122,000 – 180,000 spawning adult salmon, the number needed to return to the river to maintain the health of the run.

As recently as 2002, adult salmon numbering about 775,000 returned to spawn.

This year, even with all ocean salmon fishing closures, the return of fall run chinook to the Sacramento is projected to be only 54,000.

“The salmon fishing culture that has been a cornerstone of the coastal communities has reached a low ebb point in 2008 for the collective three West Coast states,” said Mark Cedergreen, council vice chairman. “This was the responsible thing to do, but it will hurt.”

In California and Oregon south of Cape Falcon, where Sacramento fish stocks have the biggest impact, the commercial and recreational salmon fishery had an average economic value of $103 million per year between 1979 and 2004.

The record low seasons are devastating news to beleaguered salmon fleets on the west coast. California and Oregon ocean salmon fisheries are still recovering from a poor fishing season in 2005 and a disastrous one in 2006, when Klamath River fall chinook returns were below their spawning escapement goal.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is online at: www.pcouncil.org

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PORTLAND, Oregon, January 29, 2008 (ENS) – California Central Valley fall Chinook salmon stocks appear to be undergoing a “significant decline,” said Pacific Fishery Management Council Director Donald McIsaac today.

Dr. McIsaac warned that if the low abundance is confirmed, all marine and freshwater fisheries that target these salmon stocks could be affected.

“The low returns are particularly distressing since this stock has consistently been the healthy work horse for salmon fisheries off California and most of Oregon,” he said.

The Pacific Council is a federal advisory panel responsible for managing fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Chinook salmon in a freshwater
stream (Photo courtesy NOAA)

Chinook salmon are also called king, spring, or tyee salmon, and are the largest of the Pacific salmon. Chinook salmon are highly prized by commercial, sport, and subsistence fishers. Like all Pacific salmon, chinook are anadromous, which means they hatch in freshwater streams and rivers, migrate to the ocean for feeding and growth, and return to their natal waters to spawn.

California Central Valley fall run Chinook salmon spawn in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins and their tributaries.

California Central Valley fall Chinook salmon are not on the federal endangered species list, but they were classified as a Species of Concern on April 15, 2004.

Last week, the Council’s Salmon Technical Team met to tabulate salmon returns and catches. Two areas of bad news emerged.

First, in 2007 the adult spawning escapement for Sacramento River fall Chinook salmon failed to meet the escapement goal of 122,000 to 180,000 adults for the first time in 15 years.

Sacramento River fall Chinook is the largest component of Central Valley Chinook.

The escapement goal, or conservation objective, is the optimal number of adult fish returning to spawn in order to maximize the production of the stock.

Second, the count of “jacks” in the Central Valley fall Chinook return this past fall was at a record low. Only 2,000 jacks returned, compared to a long-term average of about 40,000 and the previous record low of 10,000.

Jacks are immature fish that return to the rivers at age two, unlike adult fish, which return at age three or four. Their numbers are used to forecast future returns. This suggests that 2008 abundance will probably also be weak.

Last week, scientists questioned whether returns in 2008 could meet the conservation objective even without any commercial or recreational salmon fishing.

If returns do not meet the conservation objective, an emergency rule from National Marine Fisheries Service may be required to allow any fisheries at all, Dr. McIsaac said.

The reason for the decline is unclear, he said. Both hatchery and naturally produced fish have been negatively affected, and returns of coastal stocks in Oregon, in the Columbia River, and in British Columbia were all low in 2007.

“The decline seems to be a coastwide phenomenon, probably related to ocean conditions,” he said.

The implications of a precipitous decline could be substantial for both commercial and recreational fisheries coastwide. In 2006, a similar decline in Klamath stocks led to major cutbacks in salmon fishing opportunities.

Sacramento River salmon have a greater range than Klamath River stocks, and are caught in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. They are considered the “driver” of commercial fisheries in Oregon and California, explained Dr. McIsaac.

The Council will consider these numbers and set harvest levels this spring. In three to four weeks, the Council will release estimates of salmon abundance for 2008.

Then, at its March 8-14 meeting in Sacramento, California, the Council will develop a range of management options. Salmon management discussions begin on Tuesday, March 11, when the Council will review 2007 salmon fisheries, discuss stock abundance estimates, and tentatively adopt salmon management measures for analysis by Council technical teams and scientists.

Friday, the Council is scheduled to adopt management options for public review. These options will probably range from status quo harvest levels to significant closures.

Public hearings to receive input on the options are scheduled for March 31 in Westport, Washington and Coos Bay, Oregon, and for April 1 in Eureka, California. The Council will consult with scientists, hear public comment, and revise preliminary decisions until it chooses a final option at its meeting during the week of April 7 in Seattle.

All Council meetings are open to the public. Based on previous experience with Klamath fisheries, the Council expects there to be a large public turnout at both the March and April meetings and the public hearings.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 for the purpose of managing fisheries three to 200 miles offshore of the U.S. coastline.

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