The state’s fishing industry and coastal fishing communities will face an economic loss of $40 million if a recommendation to close both the commercial and sport salmon fishing season is approved in April.
The state’s fishing industry and coastal fishing communities will face an economic loss of $40 million if a recommendation to close both the commercial and sport salmon fishing season is approved in April. The proposal, recommended by the National Marine Fisheries Service to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, would shut down the fishing season for salmon between Cape Falcon and Point Sur, Calif. The closure is to protect the dwindling Klamath River fall chinook. Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, said the hardest-hit communities would be Coos Bay, Brookings and possibly Newport and Florence. He added that many in the fishing industry are already looking for alternative work because the closure seems almost certain.
