|
$60M in Salmon Relief
|
Tracy Katelman, ASJE
|
Jun 08, 2007 16:20 PDT
|
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_6092436
Salmon relief on the hook for summer
John Driscoll The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 06/08/2007 04:20:17 AM PDT
Disaster relief funding for salmon fishermen and fishing businesses up
and down the West Coast will finally be distributed over the summer.
The $60.4 million in federal money is meant to buoy businesses,
communities and tribes that were hard hit during last year's bleak salmon
season, the only West Coast fishing season ever declared a disaster.
”It is very good news,” said Eureka commercial fisherman Dave Bitts.
“People who had to borrow or go to their credit cards to get through this
-- it's going to be very, very good news for a lot of people.”
Rep. Mike Thompson learned during a Thursday meeting with National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Director Bill Hogarth that the
funds will be distributed by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries
Commission.
Thompson wrote legislation to authorize the funds, and after a lengthy
battle, it was passed as part of a war spending bill in May.
The St. Helena Democrat said the commission will submit a proposal to
NOAA, based on determinations by California and Oregon, on who should
receive the money. It may take NOAA up to eight weeks to review that
proposal before approval.
”North Coast residents struck by our country's largest salmon disaster
desperately need this money to get back on their feet,” Thompson said in
a news release. “We still have a lot of work to do to restore the Klamath
River Basin, but today we've taken a large step toward helping our salmon
industry recover from last year's disastrous season.”
Regulators slashed the season for sport, commercial and tribal fishing in
2006 to protect a meager run of salmon to the Klamath River. Nearly 800
miles of shoreline was affected.
Dams, water diversions, algae blooms and water quality problems all
affect salmon in the Klamath. The health of the salmon run on the Klamath
is a key component in how regulations are crafted along much of the West
Coast, and can suppress opportunities to catch fish from other rivers
even when those stocks are plentiful.
John Driscoll can be reached at 441-0504 or
jdris-@times-standard.com.
_________________
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4873429.html
June 8, 2007, 10:18AM
$60M in Salmon Disaster Aid Due Soon
By JEFF BARNARD AP Environmental Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
GRANTS PASS, Ore. Fishermen, tribes and businesses suffering from
cutbacks in salmon fishing last year to protect dwindling Klamath River
stocks can expect to see their share of $60 million in federal disaster
relief starting this summer.
NOAA Fisheries Director Bill Hogarth gave the news to members of Congress
on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
"We still have a lot of work to do to restore the Klamath River
Basin, but today we've taken a large step toward helping our salmon
industry recover from last year's disastrous season," Rep. Mike
Thompson, D-Calif., said in a statement.
Last August, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez declared salmon fishing
a failure from Cape Falcon on the northern Oregon coast to Point Sur near
Monterey, Calif.
The harvest was cut back about 90 percent by federal fisheries managers
to protect chinook returning to the Klamath River in Northern California,
where dams, poor habitat and low water have contributed to poor
returns.
The Department of Commerce estimated direct losses to salmon fishermen
alone were $16 million.
The salmon disaster aid was attached to an Iraq war funding bill, which
became the subject of an intense battle between Democrats in Congress and
President Bush before it was passed last month.
The money will be distributed through the Pacific Marine Fisheries
Commission, based in Portland.
Mark Newell, a Newport fisherman who serves on the Oregon Salmon
Commission, said the money would be coming just in time for many
people.
"We are having another disaster this year," he said. "It's
really going to be a godsend. Unless the season really picks up here it
will be two bad ones in a row and a lot of guys would lose their
boats," without the disaster assistance.
Prices have been the best ever, running between $6 and $7 a pound paid to
fishermen, but few fish are being caught, Newell said. As a result he has
been fishing for black cod and crab until salmon fishing improves.
Fishermen who do not have permits for other fisheries have no
alternatives.
Newell said specifics on how the money will be distributed are still
being worked out.
But he said he expected that 10 percent will likely go to tribes, and
after administrative costs are taken out the remainder will be shared 60
percent to California, which has about 700 active salmon boats, and 40
percent to Oregon, which has about 500. Fishermen and related businesses
who were active from 2000 through 2006 would be eligible.
Fishermen who grossed $50,000 in a good season are likely to see about
that much in disaster relief distributed in three rounds, Newell
said.
The first round is likely to be about $3,000 per boat for maintaining
safety gear, such as rafts and emergency locator beacons, Newell said.
The second is $100 per foot of boat length for general maintenance. That
would be $3,500 for a typical 35-foot boat. And the last is some factor
of a fisherman's landings between 2000 and 2006.
Eureka, Calif., fisherman Dave Bitts said in May he was boating less than
20 fish a day, compared to 50 a day in a good year.
Tracy Katelman
Executive Director
Alliance for
Sustainable Jobs and the Environment
POB 1361, Eureka, CA
95502
Office: 840 E Street, Suite 5, Eureka Labor Temple
Phone/FAX:
707-498-4481
Mobile: 707-845-8579
tra-@asje.org
www.asje.org
Join Us!
www.asje.org/jonew.html
|
|
 |
|
