Pacific Fishery Management Council Report; I attended the PFMC meetings in Sacramento were March 3 – 7, 2012.  Believe me when I say that it was a long four days of session after secession. To cut to the chase it was all about salmon and how much whom was going to get and how many. You have to remember that the Fall Run Chinook are divided in many ways and we only have two major sources for California Fall Chinook. One is the Sacramento River (Central Valley Chinook Stocks) and the other is the Klamath River Basin Stocks. In ’07, ’08, the Central Valley Stocks took a big hit and the recovery estimate for 2009 return was way below the estimated return and a greatly reduced harvest was put into place which hurt all salmon fishing both Ocean Commercial, Ocean Sport and Sacramento River Sport fishing. There was much to do about this problem and NOAA (NMFS) made a big change in how the salmon stocks were to be determined. The Sacramento and the Klamath Fall Chinook are now required to have a certain percentage of the estimated return to meet the escapement goal instead of a numbered floor return. The Sacramento River is required to have an escapement goal of 245,820 for an estimated return of 819,400, while the Klamath River Basin is required to have an escapement goal of 86,300 instead of 35,000 minimum floor or 40,700 for an estimated ocean abundance of 1,651,765 and a 381,100 at the Mouth of the River return. I know this does not make much since to you but I’m trying to make this as simple as possible.

Now for the good part! The Sacramento River is predicted to have a full Fall Chinook salmon fishing season with two per day and four in possession provided the Calif. Fish and Game Commission approves it at their April meeting in Eureka. The Klamath River Basin is to have three options to choose from at the April CFG meeting for In-River Sport Fishing. OPTION I: 66,600 Fall Chinook equals, 50% or 33,300 fish - Lower Klamath; 5,661 – Upper Klamath; 21,978 Trinity Fall Chinook, 10,989 – Lower Trinity; 10,989 – Upper Trinity. OPTION II: 71,200 Fall Chinook equals, 50% or 35,600 fish – Lower Klamath; 12,104 – Upper Klamath; 23,496 Trinity Fall Chinook, 11,745 – Lower Trinity; 11,745 – Upper Trinity. OPYION III: 69,900 Fall Chinook equals, 50% or 34,800 – Lower Klamath; 11,832 Upper Klamath; 22.968 Trinity Fall Chinook, 11,484 – Lower Trinity; 11,464 – Upper trinity. The proposal before the Calif. Fish and Game Commissioners is a place holder of 0-4 per day Fall Chinook salmon season and will be determined at their April meeting in Eureka. I hope to have some recommendations for you in the next week or so. We will have to send emails to them to help determine just what our salmon regulations and bag limits will be for this year.