By Tom Gentle The decline of salmon has had a decidedly negative effect on the commercial salmon fishing industry in Oregon. To make matters worse, the industry and fish managers must bear much of the blame. Overfishing in the past, based on unrealistic harvest levels and reliance on hatchery salmon, contributed to the present situation. What is overfishing? In the case of salmon, it means fishermen caught too many fish and didn't let enough return to their native streams to spawn. "Escapement" is the term given to the number of adult fish that return to spawn because they escaped being caught. |
 Commercial fishing harvest levels contributed to the salmon decline. New regulations are intended to help the fish recover. |
In order to increase the escapement of certain species and runs of salmon, fishing regulations have placed ever tighter controls on commercial and sport fishermen. Fishing seasons for various salmon species have been closed. For others there are shorter seasons, quotas on the number of fish that can be caught, or gear restrictions such as mesh size in nets that allow fish to avoid being caught.
"There's probably no natural resource in the United States managed as intensively as the salmon in Oregon. We [managers and fishermen] have made some mistakes, but the fishery is watched closely," said Jeff Feldner, a Newport salmon fisherman.
Even though season closures and strict regulations have reduced fishing efforts and numbers of participants, commercial salmon fishing continues in Oregon. This often comes as a mystery to people like the visitor from the Midwest who recently asked the clerk in a Eugene seafood store, "If salmon are endangered, why do they let anyone catch them?"
The answer to that question lies in the unique life histories of different species of salmon that come from different river systems. Not all species of salmon that return to Oregon's rivers are endangered. Some can be caught in the ocean because they are not mixed together with other species that are protected.
Today, there are three distinct commercial salmon fisheries in Oregon.
- An ocean troll chinook fishery along the Oregon coast. Trollers catch
fish by slowly trailing baited lines through the water.
- A non-Indian gillnet fishery on the lower Columbia River. About 100
fishermen participate in a special fishery for aquaculture-raised salmon
in Youngs Bay. Gillnetters, who use a net that entangles fish by the gills,
can also catch hatchery runs if there is a surplus. In addition, sturgeon
gillnetters are allowed to keep 100 spring chinook caught accidentally
while fishing for sturgeon.
- A treaty Indian gillnet fishery on the Columbia River between Bonneville and McNary dams. This year, four Indian tribes are entitled to catch 40,000 fall chinook and a specified number of steelhead under treaties with the U.S. government specifying that the tribes reserved the right to fish "at all usual and accustomed fishing sites in common with citizens of the United States." The fall chinook run is in the best condition of all the salmon on the Columbia River. In 1998, a total fall chinook run of 232,000 fish is expected, including both hatchery and wild fish.
In addition, commercial fishermen from British Columbia and southeast Alaska catch chinook that originate in the Columbia River system and the coasts of Oregon and Washington. The Pacific Northwest fish are mixed with salmon from Canadian and Alaskan rivers.
In the past 3 years, Canadian salmon trollers have cut back fishing off Vancouver Island by 70 to 80 percent, which has reduced the harvest of Columbia River and Oregon coast chinook, according to Paul Heikkila, OSU Extension Sea Grant agent. Similarly, the Alaskan salmon troll harvest has been cut in half from the effort 10 years ago, primarily to avoid catching Snake River chinook.
The restrictions on commercial fishing have taken a toll on individual fishermen and the Oregon economy.
Commercial salmon trolling licenses in Oregon rose to more than 3,000 in 1980. By 1993, there were fewer than 2,000 licenses. That figure is now estimated to have dropped to 1,200 licenses, according to Heikkila. But only about 300 of those license holders reported making any landings this year.
Astoria was the site of a huge salmon gillnet fishery early in the 20th century. Most of the remaining gillnetters now fish in Alaska and rarely set their nets on the Columbia River.
According to a report on the economic impact of fishing restrictions on Oregon's salmon trolling fleet prepared for the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association, commercial salmon fishing is expected to generate $4 million in personal income in 1998. This compares to a yearly average of $41 million in 1976-80; an average of $14 million in 1981-85, a period that includes a severe El Niño; and a yearly average of $25 million in 1986-90.
The situation of the treaty Indians is more complicated. Before court decisions that recognized their rights to salmon, landings of fall chinook varied from 40,000 to 57,000 fish each year. In 1975, the catch peaked at 140,000 fish. In 1997, that number dropped to 39,400 fish.
"The size of the tribal catch depends on the size of the returning salmon run, so it fluctuates from year to year," said Rick Taylor, public information officer for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. "But it's fair to say that few if any tribal fishers can make a moderate living by fishing."
To add to these economic woes, the ready availability of salmon from aquaculture operations around the world has depressed the prices commercial salmon fishermen receive for their catch. Some salmon trollers can supplement their income by fishing for other species such as albacore, crab and bottomfish. But the days when a troller could earn a decent living from salmon alone appear to be over.
"Salmon trolling was the traditional entry point into the fishing industry for young people. They learned how to fish and moved to bigger boats in other fisheries," said Ginny Goblirsch, OSU Extension Sea Grant agent. "Not only are a lot of people losing a livelihood, for many families a way of life is coming to an end."
Most observers see a limited future for commercial salmon fishing on the Oregon coast. Restrictions being considered for various chinook populations could squeeze the trollers even more.
Jeff Feldner is an optimist about the future. "The best thing we can do is bring habitat back in line with what we know to be suitable for spawning and rearing. And we need to continue to hold catch rates down. If we get the cold water conditions [ocean upwelling] we had in the 1960s and 70s, fish will come back if we have the habitat," he said.