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The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Sunday adopted three public review alternatives for the 2016 salmon season off the West Coast of the United States.
The council will select a final alternative at their next meeting in Vancouver, Wash., April 9 to 14.
Detailed information about season starting dates, areas open and catch limits for all three alternatives are available on the council’s Web site at www.pcouncil.org or http://tinyurl.com/salmon2016 .
“The mix of salmon runs this year is unusual,” said outgoing 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.”
“This will be a challenging year for salmon fisheries. 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 coastwide,” said Council Vice-Chair Herb Pollard.
Northern Oregon and Washington (north of Cape Falcon)
Sport season alternatives
Ocean sport fishery options north of Cape Falcon in Oregon and off the Washington coast are focused on Chinook salmon this year, with mark-selective Chinook fishing alternatives for June; and July-August fisheries, which are not mark-selective. Chinook recreational quotas range from 30,000 to 58,600.
For coho, one alternative allows modest coastwide opportunity for 37,800 hatchery coho in July and August.
One alternative permits limited coho fishing only in the Columbia River area between Cape Falcon and Leadbetter Point, with a coho quota of 14,700 hatchery coho that starts in late June and runs into September.
One alternative is closed to all non-Indian recreational and commercial fishing north of Cape Falcon in response to concerns over extremely low forecasts.
In a year like this, it is appropriate to see the effects of complete protection for key Washington coastal and Puget Sound wild coho stocks.
Commercial season options
Non-Indian ocean commercial fishery alternatives north of Cape Falcon include traditional Chinook seasons between May and September.
Chinook quotas for all areas and times range from 30,000 to 56,000, compared to 67,000 in 2015. Only one commercial fishery alternative allows retention of coho, with a quota of 7,200 marked coho (compared to 19,200 in 2015).
Tribal ocean fisheries north of Cape Falcon
Alternative Chinook and coho quotas for tribal ocean fisheries range from quotas of 30,000 to 50,000 for Chinook salmon, while coho quotas range from 0 to 40,000.
Seasons open May 1 and run through August or September 15. The zero coho quota alternative for the tribal ocean fishery reflects concern over the very low forecasts for key Washington coastal and Puget Sound wild coho stocks.
California and southern Oregon (south of Cape Falcon)
Sport season options
California ocean sport fishing alternatives provide seasons that range from fairly continuous traditional seasons to more conservative alternatives with mid-season closures or shortened seasons to protect Klamath River fall Chinook or Sacramento River winter Chinook.
Chinook directed Klamath Management Zone alternatives (Humbug Mt., Oregon to Horse Mt., California) generally open in May and run through Labor Day (except that one alternative closes August 31), and all alternatives have closed periods to reduce impacts on Klamath River fall Chinook.
Alternatives for Oregon Chinook fishing in the Tillamook, Newport, and Coos Bay areas all open March 15 and run either continuously through Oct. 31 or are closed May through August.
Oregon ocean recreational alternatives include mark-selective coho fishing seasons starting in June or July and run through July or into early August in the area between Cape Falcon and the Oregon/California border. Quotas range from 15,000 to 30,000 marked coho.
In addition, non-mark-selective fisheries are proposed for the area between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mt. in September with quotas ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 coho.
Commercial season options
From the north, commercial Chinook salmon season alternatives in the Tillamook, Newport and Coos Bay area open April 8 and run through September or October but have several closed periods.
Oregon season alternatives in the Brookings area of the Klamath Management Zone are generally open for Chinook most of April and May, and one alternative includes small quota fisheries in June, July, and August.
California commercial season alternatives in the Klamath Management Zone north of the Humboldt South Jetty include two small quota (3,000 and 1,000) fisheries in September, and one alternative with no fishing.
Commercial season alternatives south of the Klamath Management Zone are generally closed in July to protect Klamath fall Chinook.
Open periods are all or part of May, and depending on the area, all or parts of June, August, and September, with fewer open periods to the south to protect Sacramento River winter Chinook.
Management process
Public hearings to receive input on the options are scheduled for March 28 in Westport, Washington and Coos Bay, Oregon; and for March 29 in Fort Bragg, Calif.
The council will consult with scientists, hear public comment, and revise preliminary decisions until it chooses a final option at its April meeting in Vancouver. It will narrow these options to a single season recommendation to be forwarded to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for their final approval before May 1.
All council meetings are open to the public.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 for the purpose of managing fisheries 3-200 miles offshore of the United States of America coastline.
The Pacific Council recommends management measures for fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – In recognition of the 20th anniversary of its first cable system purchase, Mediacom Communications announced that it intends to invest $1 billion over the next three years to, among other projects, upgrade and expand its national broadband network.
Headlining the list of planned company initiatives is “Project Gigabit,” a wide-scale deployment of 1 gigabit per second broadband services to virtually all of the three million homes and businesses within the 1,500 communities located in Mediacom’s 22-state footprint.
“From the time we acquired our first cable system in March 1996, Mediacom’s focus has always been to offer the smaller communities we serve the same communications and video services that are available in America’s largest cities,” said Mediacom’s founder and CEO, Rocco B. Commisso. “Project Gigabit will allow us to go even further by giving our customers access to one of the fastest broadband networks in the world.”
Project Gigabit will build upon the residential gigabit product launches completed by Mediacom in 2015 and the widely available Gigabit+ Fiber SolutionsTM offered by Mediacom Business today.
The company expects to bring the first wave of Project Gigabit communities online as early as the fourth quarter of 2016.
Unlike some other 1-Gig providers whose services are limited to selected neighborhoods and/or are relying on federal, state or local taxpayer subsidies, Mediacom will invest its own money to make gigabit speeds available to essentially all of the residences and businesses along its network.
In addition to Project Gigabit, Mediacom’s $1 billion capital investment plan will fund a number of other important customer initiatives including:
– Expansion of Mediacom Business’s high-capacity network inside downtown areas and commercial districts in order to create more “lit buildings” within the Company’s footprint and bring tens of thousands of new business customers on-net with immediate access to fiber-based communications services.
– Extension of Mediacom’s deep-fiber residential video, Internet and phone network in order to pass at least an additional 50,000 homes.
– Deployment of community Wi-Fi access points throughout high-traffic commercial and public areas across Mediacom’s national footprint.
“The $4.2 billion in private capital invested by Mediacom over the last 20 years has allowed us to, among other things, create an all-digital video network, launch a variety of advanced broadband services and deploy nearly 600,000 strand miles of fiber,” said Commisso. “We decided to accelerate our capital spending over the next 3 years because our Company wants to be the engine that drives economic growth and development for businesses and residents in the communities we serve.”
More information about Mediacom is available at www.mediacomcc.com .
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- Written by: Editor
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