Ban on salmon fishing considered along Oregon, California coast

[Shelor]

Salmon fishing could be banned outright or severely restricted this summer along 700 miles of coastline from northern Oregon through central California as the number of spawning salmon is expected to miss mandatory conservation minimums, fishing regulators said Friday.

A total ban on commercial and recreational salmon fishing from Cape Falcon in Oregon to Point Sur in California is one of several options likely to be considered at the March meeting of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which advises federal regulators about offshore fishing limits in the Pacific Ocean, said council officer Chuck Tracy. The council will then present its final recommendations in April to the National Marine Fisheries Service to set limits on this season's harvest.

Biologists are concerned that fewer mature chinook salmon are spawning to replace fish that are dying off.

For the third year in a row, the number of mature chinook salmon leaving the ocean to spawn in the Klamath River is expected to fall below the required 35,000 minimum, which could lead to new regulations to combat overfishing.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20060224-1700-wst-salmonfishingban.html

[Oerdin]

1. This ban has been in effect along the California coast from

LA to SLO for the last 10 years or so. The Salmon runs in those areas are critically endangered so it is illegal to fish for Salmon at all in those areas. San Diego and Orange counties used to host Salmon runs of their own however they've been extinct since the early 1920's. There has been talk of planting salmon eggs from other Southern Califonria counties but there is a problem with dams blocking spawning grounds.