By Neil Farrell

It’s been said many times  — “Nothing fills up Morro Bay like a good salmon season.” And the federal agency that regulates sport and commercial fishing on the West Coast is looking at three possibilities for next year’s salmon season.

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which oversees ocean fishing off California, Oregon and Washington, will meet April 9-14 in Vancouver, Wash., to adopt a management model for 2016-17.

PFMC will choose an option and make a recommendation and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the fisheries regulatory arm of the Federal Government) will formally adopt its 2016-17 regulations, due to be in place before May 1.

Mike Burner, an officer with PFMC who works on the salmon program, said this fishing season will continue as previously approved, with an April 2 start date for sport fishers.

The April 2 opener was set in regulations last spring and fishing is all set to begin, Burner said. The Council and National Marine Fisheries Service set fishing seasons from May 1 of one year through April 30 of the next.

“So the current regulations went into effect on May 1, 2015,” Burner explained, “and cover fishing seasons through April 30, 2016. In April of 2016 the Council will make recommendations on fishing seasons from May 1, 2016 thought April 30, 2017.”

Every March the Council considers the status of salmon stocks and considers making in-season changes to the April fishing seasons. “This March the Council did not alter the April 2, 2016 opener for California recreational fisheries,” Burner said, “so the fishery is set to open under existing regulations.”

It’s an annual exercise closely watched by both sport boat operators and commercial fishers whose livelihoods depend greatly on the salmon season, as well as sport fishermen chasing what is arguably fishing’s grand prize from the Pacific.

Local restaurants and fish markets also share in the bounty, as offering fresh-caught salmon is a real draw.

Locally in Morro Bay, the impacts of a poor salmon season can also be seen in requests for waivers from commercial fishermen, who must produce a certain amount of fish landing tickets to continue to qualify for their City-owned slips.

Such a waiver request was heard at the last Harbor Advisory Board meeting, which unanimously voted to recommend allowing the waiver.

Each segment of the Coastline From the US-Canada Border to the US-Mexico Border will have a slightly different set of rules, and at least one area — from the Humboldt Bay South Jetty, south to Horse Mt., is slated for closure in all three options.

Detailed information about the catch limits, start dates, durations of the seasons, and more is available online at: www.pcouncil.org or see: https://tinyurl.com/salmon2016.

The local area covers waters from Pt. Sur to the Mexican Border and while exceedingly short should be open for at least a while, however, whether or not there are many fish here, as was the case last year, remains to be seen.

For sport fishermen, the first option is to open the season from April 2 through July 17, seven days a week and for all salmon except Coho. There’s a 2-fish-per-day limit with minimum size for Chinook of 24 inches, along with the normal gear restrictions. In 2017, the season would open on April Fool’s Day.

Option 2 is essentially the same but Option 3 would just have the season open from April 2 through May 31.

For commercial Fishers there would be a triple-split season under Option 1 — May 1-31, June 21-30 and Aug. 1-15. Again no Coho salmon allowed and the Chinook size limit would be 27 inches.

All the fish must be landed in California, so the State can check them at the dock, and landed and off loaded by 11:59 p.m. Aug. 30, as apparently midnight Sept. 1 is too late.

Option 2 has a split season — May 1-31 and June 16-30, with the same restrictions on type and size. Option 3 would only have the season open from May 1-31.

The regulations for areas from Northern California to the Canada Border also set an overall catch limit per species, too.

“The mix of salmon runs this year is unusual,” said outgoing PFMC Executive Director Donald McIsaac. “In the north, the return of fall Chinook to the Columbia River is forecast to be exceptionally high again, but expectations for wild Coho runs to the Washington Coast and Puget Sound areas can only be described as disastrous.

“In the south, the Sacramento River fall Chinook are healthy, but Klamath River fall Chinook are so poor that the Council’s policy calls for a low ‘de minimis’ catch in ocean fisheries.”

Council Vice-Chairman, Herb Pollard, echoed the grim predictions. “This will be a challenging year for salmon fisheries,” Pollard said. “Several key stocks are less abundant than usual due to environmental conditions like the California drought and El Niño, which have affected ocean abundance for some stocks.

“However, there are alternatives that provide opportunities for both commercial and recreational salmon fishing Coast-wide.”

Before making its decision in April, the PFMC will hold public hearings to receive input on the options, and scheduled for March 28 in Westport, Wash., and Coos Bay, Ore., and March 29 in Fort Bragg, Calif.

The PFMC is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Federal Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. Its purpose is managing fisheries from 3- to 200-miles offshore of the U.S. West Coast (not counting Alaska or Hawaii).

See the PFMC’s website at: www.pcouncil.org for more information on the workings of fishery management on the West Coast and eventually, information on the biological and socioeconomic impacts of its management decisions and fact sheets and terminology used in its findings.