2010 SALMON FORECAST GIVES HOPE FOR SPORT SALMON SEASON!

San Francisco, CA – On Wednesday, February 24, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) released projections showing California’s Sacramento fall-run Chinook salmon has partially recovered from its historic low abundance. The best available science concludes that in 2010 the number of returning Sacramento fall-run adult fish is projected to exceed the conservation objective by 123,000 fish. California’s recreational anglers, who have been barred since November, 2007 from pursuing these fish, should see a return to fishing in 2010.

“We’re optimistic we can fish this year after being shut down the last two years,” said Marc Gorelnik, a recreational angler from El Cerrito, California and board member of the Coastside Fishing Club. “Salmon fishing, to many of us, is about maintaining the same direct connection to nature that our ancestors always enjoyed, and passing on skills and a way of life to the next generation.”

The Sacramento fall-run Chinook are the backbone of this rich cultural tradition, which up until 2007 had continuously supported a vibrant recreational fishery. However, massive increases in the export of San Francisco Delta water for several years resulted in all time record low returns. In turn, this required the complete shutdown of salmon fishing in California. Returns of the previously abundant Sacramento fallrun Chinook reached historic lows in 2008 and 2009. Runs that previously exceeded 1,000,000 fish, and as recently as 2002 reached 775,000 fish, collapsed to 39,500 fish in 2009.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), the federal body primarily responsible for managing the salmon fishery, projects that approximately 245,000 adult Sacramento fall-run Chinook salmon will return to spawn in 2010. This estimate is well above the conservation goal of 122,000 to 180,000 returning fish set by the PFMC. While far below the fall-run’s potential, the estimated return provides a sustainable harvest of approximately 123,000 fish under longstanding resource management protocols.

Fall-run Chinook salmon predominately follow a three-year cycle. The successful offspring of returning adults will themselves return in three years as a new generation of adult spawners. However, a fraction of each generation returns as two-year-old adolescents, commonly called “jacks.” The count of these adolescents is used to predict the following year’s adult returns. Due to a reduction of Delta water pumping, favorable ocean conditions, and the re-establishment of net pen acclimation projects, the number of jacks returning in 2009 significantly increased, which forecasts an increase in returning adults in 2010.

“Anglers did not contribute to this collapse, but we’ve paid the full price of the closures,” said Ben Sleeter with the West Coast Highliners fishing club, a recreational angler from El Granada, California. “Salmon are a resilient fish, but they do require our attention. The improved forecast for 2010 exemplifies the fact that we need only to provide them with sufficient water and habitat and they will thrive. While we are not yet out of the woods, the management actions to curtail Delta water diversions have clearly had positive results for salmon and recreational salmon fishermen.”

“Recreational anglers supported the complete California salmon fishery closures in 2008 and 2009,” said Gorelnik. “And we recognize that the size of the 2010 fall-run is far short of its potential and smaller than the average run over the past few decades. But so long as a sport season is respectful of the resource and crafted within the guidelines of the PFMC’s sustainable fishing goals, there is no reason to keep the fishery closed in 2010.” Gorelnik notes that a return of spawning adults as small as 80,000 can produce, three years later, an abundance of nearly 1.5 million fish, as occurred in the mid-90’s.

“Recreational fishing is a powerful economic engine in the state’s coastal communities. Everyone from party boat operators to tackle store owners to marina operators to tackle manufacturers has a stake in healthy, sustainable fisheries,” said American Sportfishing Association Vice President Gordon Robertson. “Even a partial recovery is vitally important to job retention and recreational fishing opportunity.” Jim Martin, the West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance added that "the improved jack counts suggest that we can structure a sustainable recreational season this year."

The PFMC report is available at: http://www.pcouncil.org/wpcontent/uploads/Salmon_Preseason_Rpt_I_FEBRUARY_2010.pdf

I wouldn't get your hopes up.

I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Have you seen: "Miracle of the Salmon"?     If not, see link below:

http://harunyahya.com/presentation/miracle_of_the_salmon/index.html

Is this a press release written by Coastside members? The first time I read it, I thought it was official...?

Is this a press release written by Coastside members? The first time I read it, I thought it was official...?

Yes, it's from CS members.  No, it's not official, just hoping for a miracle!