West Coast salmon fishing ban weighed

Resource disaster declaration sought
The council's action on Friday prompted Schwarzenegger and the governors of Oregon and Washington to urge the federal government to declare a resource disaster if the fisheries are closed or severely restricted. Such a declaration would make communities eligible for federal aid.

Closing fisheries in California and most of Oregon also could lead to higher salmon prices for restaurants and consumers who would be forced to buy Alaska-caught salmon instead of locally caught fish.

In most years, about 90 percent of wild chinook salmon caught off the California coast originate in the Sacramento River and its tributaries.

Only about 90,000 adult salmon returned to the Sacramento River and its tributaries to spawn last year, the second lowest number on record and well below the government's conservation goals, according to federal fishery regulators. That's down from 277,000 in 2006 and a record high of 804,000 in 2002.

Biologists predict this year's salmon returns could be even lower because the number of returning young male fish, known as "jacks," hit an all-time low last year. Only about 2,000 of them were recorded, which is far below the 40,000 counted in a typical year.

Other West Coast rivers also have seen declines in their salmon runs, though not as steep as California's Central Valley.

No single cause of collapse
Experts are uncertain about what caused the collapse, pointing to dozens of factors.

Marine scientists blame an unusual weather pattern that triggered a collapse of the marine food web in 2005, the year most of this year's returning adults were entering the ocean as juveniles.

Fishermen, environmental groups and American Indians largely blame the salmon's troubles on poor water quality and water diversions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Specifically, they say state and federal agencies have not had the money or personnel to enforce laws protecting habitat and water quality, and that the massive pumping of delta water to cities and farms has created a deadly gauntlet for young salmon trying to reach the ocean.

"We have a huge, huge delta problem," said Dick Pool, president of Pro-Troll, a fishing equipment company based in Concord. "It's destroying our fish. And if we don't fix it, we're going to continue to lose all these resources."

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