The PCS Blogosphere
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Salmon Season Now Looks Good
The PFMC met in Sacramento this week and established the salmon season options for this year. The PFMC April meeting will decide the final season structure from these options. However, because the PFMC did not take emergency action at this meeting it looks as if the April salmon season will happen no matter what. This is because the scheduling of the PFMC meetings is off by a bit with the salmon season dates so they approve the April fishery a year ahead of time and then confirm the rest of the season starting May 1 in April of the same year.
So the options look good and are as follows:
The PFMC met in Sacramento this week and established the salmon season options for this year. The PFMC April meeting will decide the final season structure from these options. However, because the PFMC did not take emergency action at this meeting it looks as if the April salmon season will happen no matter what. This is because the scheduling of the PFMC meetings is off by a bit with the salmon season dates so they approve the April fishery a year ahead of time and then confirm the rest of the season starting May 1 in April of the same year.
So the options look good and are as follows:
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Salmon season in jeopardy! Call to arms!
PFMC Meeting on March 8
Salmon season this year? We are going to have to fight for it! There are plenty of fish for a recreational season, so don't believe what you read in the newspapers. We have a right to a season and the science says that a season is in accord with the conservation objectives. But there are many who don't want us to fish and we have to let them know that the facts and the science support having a sport season. That means getting out and attending the PFMC meeting and letting them know that we are here and that we will fight to get it.
PFMC Meeting on March 8
Salmon season this year? We are going to have to fight for it! There are plenty of fish for a recreational season, so don't believe what you read in the newspapers. We have a right to a season and the science says that a season is in accord with the conservation objectives. But there are many who don't want us to fish and we have to let them know that the facts and the science support having a sport season. That means getting out and attending the PFMC meeting and letting them know that we are here and that we will fight to get it.
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Salmon Under Attack. Where is CDF&G? Answer: MIA
There is a major push to grab the Sacramento River water by the Central Valley farmers and the SoCal folks. They are perfectly willing to kill off every salmon and to ride roughshod over every protection provided by the Endangered Species Act. According to Dan Bacher of the Fish Sniffer: "Governor Schwarzenegger and the San Joaquin Valley Representatives have launched a series of administrative, legal and legislative attacks against the biological opinions protecting Delta smelt and Central Valley salmon. The same forces are advocating the construction of a peripheral canal and more dams to facilitate water exports to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California."
There is a major push to grab the Sacramento River water by the Central Valley farmers and the SoCal folks. They are perfectly willing to kill off every salmon and to ride roughshod over every protection provided by the Endangered Species Act. According to Dan Bacher of the Fish Sniffer: "Governor Schwarzenegger and the San Joaquin Valley Representatives have launched a series of administrative, legal and legislative attacks against the biological opinions protecting Delta smelt and Central Valley salmon. The same forces are advocating the construction of a peripheral canal and more dams to facilitate water exports to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California."
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Shrimp off San Francisco
Started hearing isolated stories about shrimp off the Central Coast, mostly about the coon striped shrimp (smaller shrimp as contrasted with the larger spot prawns which can be found in deeper water). So I invested in two shrimp pots from Willapa Bay and gave it a try. I run a few crab pots so I just zip tied the two pots to two separate crab pots and put them back down, fishing right where the Dungeness crabs are caught, not expecting much. Imagine my surprise the next day when the first pot I pulled had more than 200 shrimp! And the fact that the shrimp pot was full seemed to pull more crabs into my crab pot as well, so a double win. Anyway the second pot had only about 20, but I was enthused that there might be something to trying this.
Started hearing isolated stories about shrimp off the Central Coast, mostly about the coon striped shrimp (smaller shrimp as contrasted with the larger spot prawns which can be found in deeper water). So I invested in two shrimp pots from Willapa Bay and gave it a try. I run a few crab pots so I just zip tied the two pots to two separate crab pots and put them back down, fishing right where the Dungeness crabs are caught, not expecting much. Imagine my surprise the next day when the first pot I pulled had more than 200 shrimp! And the fact that the shrimp pot was full seemed to pull more crabs into my crab pot as well, so a double win. Anyway the second pot had only about 20, but I was enthused that there might be something to trying this.
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Salmon Collapse: Water Is the Real Problem
Ocean conditions may have some impact on salmon, but California water is the real culprit in our salmon collapse. That is the conclusion of most experts who can look at the data with a clear eyed analysis. Marc Gorelnik, a brilliant physicist/lawyer and fisherman, has done the analysis below from publicly available data and posted this on Coastside Fishing Club's web site. The politicians who want to blame "ocean conditions" take a small piece of the truth and make it into the whole story, but Marc's post shows what is really happening.
Ocean conditions may have some impact on salmon, but California water is the real culprit in our salmon collapse. That is the conclusion of most experts who can look at the data with a clear eyed analysis. Marc Gorelnik, a brilliant physicist/lawyer and fisherman, has done the analysis below from publicly available data and posted this on Coastside Fishing Club's web site. The politicians who want to blame "ocean conditions" take a small piece of the truth and make it into the whole story, but Marc's post shows what is really happening.
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Resources Secretary Chrisman Being Replaced by Water Guy
I have long been a critic of Governor Schwarzenegger's Resources Secretary Chrisman who, between the two of them, have done enormous harm during their term to the environment and especially to our salmon, striped bass, and the entire Sacramento River delta. So now Chrisman steps down (finally!) to be replaced by Lester Snow. Mr. Snow has been a water bureaucrat his entire career as evidenced by his resume sent out in a press release last week:
I have long been a critic of Governor Schwarzenegger's Resources Secretary Chrisman who, between the two of them, have done enormous harm during their term to the environment and especially to our salmon, striped bass, and the entire Sacramento River delta. So now Chrisman steps down (finally!) to be replaced by Lester Snow. Mr. Snow has been a water bureaucrat his entire career as evidenced by his resume sent out in a press release last week:
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NOAA Fisheries Needs to Get its Act Together
It's the death of a thousand cuts. I have worked for NOAA fisheries (NMFS or National Marine Fisheries is the old name) on the PFMC and also observed their practices over a the past 20 years while they slowly, painfully, inflict slice after slice, cut after cut, in our fisheries, never working to improve our lot, only offering not so benign neglect.
It's the death of a thousand cuts. I have worked for NOAA fisheries (NMFS or National Marine Fisheries is the old name) on the PFMC and also observed their practices over a the past 20 years while they slowly, painfully, inflict slice after slice, cut after cut, in our fisheries, never working to improve our lot, only offering not so benign neglect.
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MLPA and Environmentalism
We are finishing up the third phase of the implementation of the MLPA with two more areas targeted for the next two years to finish off the most unscrupulous implementation of a well intentioned act ever perpetrated on the California populace. I had bought into the grand vision for the MLPA: Create a sensible organized plan, a network of Marine Protected Areas, to protect the California Coastal waters for generations to come. Great idea I thought, let's preserve the bottom structure, provide a set of protections that insure that the marine ecosystem will stay healthy and productive. Make sure that we don't have our oceans become more polluted, overharvested, or physically despoiled. Who wouldn't like those ideas!
We are finishing up the third phase of the implementation of the MLPA with two more areas targeted for the next two years to finish off the most unscrupulous implementation of a well intentioned act ever perpetrated on the California populace. I had bought into the grand vision for the MLPA: Create a sensible organized plan, a network of Marine Protected Areas, to protect the California Coastal waters for generations to come. Great idea I thought, let's preserve the bottom structure, provide a set of protections that insure that the marine ecosystem will stay healthy and productive. Make sure that we don't have our oceans become more polluted, overharvested, or physically despoiled. Who wouldn't like those ideas!
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Time to Get Out the Crab Gear
Recreational crab season opens November 7 this year, so now is the time to start getting your gear ready. Check those lines, make sure any holes in the pots are mended, retie those escape hatches with cotton line, replace your zincs, check your rubber or elastic lines to insure that they are not rotted, clean and repaint your buoys, and make sure that you have enough bait for the season. Got all of that? Then you are ready for what should be a good season!
Recreational crab season opens November 7 this year, so now is the time to start getting your gear ready. Check those lines, make sure any holes in the pots are mended, retie those escape hatches with cotton line, replace your zincs, check your rubber or elastic lines to insure that they are not rotted, clean and repaint your buoys, and make sure that you have enough bait for the season. Got all of that? Then you are ready for what should be a good season!
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Albacore - Monterey Hot Bite
Wow! Have the albies been biting off Monterey this week. Fishing around the 36.15/122.52 area has been WFO this week. Private boat scores in the 20s and 30s are common and even much larger scores have been reported. I had a day where we got to 20+ in less than two hours, all on the troll. Just as good as it gets. After the non-albacore year last year, this year has been wonderful. The albies hit Northern California early this summer and are still around in large numbers. Get a flat day and the boats are taking advantage.
Wow! Have the albies been biting off Monterey this week. Fishing around the 36.15/122.52 area has been WFO this week. Private boat scores in the 20s and 30s are common and even much larger scores have been reported. I had a day where we got to 20+ in less than two hours, all on the troll. Just as good as it gets. After the non-albacore year last year, this year has been wonderful. The albies hit Northern California early this summer and are still around in large numbers. Get a flat day and the boats are taking advantage.
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