Salmon may be making return
North Coast's commercial catch improves, but still far behind 1980s levels

Three years of increasing commercial chinook salmon catches on the North Coast have fishermen optimistic that the species is making a comeback.
"I see the fishery is finally getting a little better," said Tommy Ancona, who's worked with fishermen at Fort Bragg's Noyo Harbor for more than 30 years and is on the advisory board to the Pacific Fishery Management Council.
The commercial catch of chinook salmon on the California coast has increased each year from a low of 193,000 fish in 2001 to an estimated 445,000 this year, according to the fishery council and the state Department of Fish and Game.
Despite recent gains, the salmon catch is still far below levels last seen in California in 1988, when commercial fishing vessels hauled in 1.3 million chinook salmon.
To protect dwindling fish populations, federal and state authorities have placed limits on how many chinook salmon can be caught. Nine of 17 types are listed as either endangered or threatened, a protective status designed to replenish fish populations.
It is too soon to determine whether regulations to protect chinook salmon are responsible for the fishing industry's hauls, said Allen Grover, a senior biologist with the Department of Fish and Game's ocean salmon project.
"It must have an effect, but quantifying that is difficult," he said.
Weather, ocean currents and temperatures, food supply, river temperatures, fish-eating predators and spawning habitat are just a few things that affect whether salmon survive and thrive, he said.
Ocean conditions have been particularly good for chinook salmon the past few years, Grover said.
The surge in the commercial chinook salmon catch hasn't been reflected in salmon hauls by recreational fishermen, Grover said.
The recreational catch in California plunged almost 50 percent in 2003, falling to 93,100 fish, largely because the salmon kept far out to sea that year, he said.
Recreational fishermen generally stay closer to shore than commercial fishermen.
Despite the recent growth in the chinook salmon catch, there are signs that salmon populations may not be recovering as fast as it appears, said Craig Bell, a coast environmentalist and former commercial fisherman who serves on the statewide Coho Recovery Team.
Bell cites chinook salmon runs in rivers such as the Eel, which has no hatchery to artificially replenish fish populations. There are few salmon returning to the Eel River system, Bell said.
Most of the chinook salmon caught off the Mendocino Coast are hatchery raised on the Sacramento River, Ancona said.
In Fort Bragg, this year's chinook salmon catch appears to be a little lower than in 2003, Ancona said. But the 2003 season was almost four times bigger than the preceding year, yielding 245,400 fish worth $6.5 million.
By comparison, Fort Bragg fishermen earned $1.7 million in 2002, according to Mendocino County's annual agriculture report.
"It stands to reason something is being done right," Ancona said.