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Washington, DC -- Today Congressman David Wu sent a letter to Governor Ted Kulongoski asking him to reject the forthcoming federal decision on the sport and commercial fishing season and allow fishing in state waters.
Congressman Wu's letter follows today's recommendation from the Pacific Fishery Management Council to reduce sport and effectively close commercial salmon fishing on the Oregon coast.
The council is a fisheries advisory board to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NMFS will now take the council's recommendation under consideration and issue a final decision on sport and commercial salmon fishing. NMFS is expected to announce the decision by May 1.
Federal law provides states the authority to manage, develop, and lease resources throughout the water column and on and under the seafloor, up to three nautical miles offshore.
The full text of Congressman Wu's letter is below:
April 7, 2006
Governor Ted Kulongoski
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, Oregon 97301-4047
Subject: Oregon Sport and Commercial Salmon Fishing Within Three Miles Of
Shore
Dear Ted,
I am asking you to permit Oregonians to fish for salmon within three miles of the Oregon coast. Under existing federal laws and regulations, the Governor of each coastal state has the authority to regulate fishing within three miles of the State coastline. It is both reasonable and common sense for Oregon to permit its highly regulated sport and commercial salmon seasons to continue this year (consistent with past regulations) because closing ocean salmon fishing does not address any relevant salmon recovery at all.
As you know, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) recommended today a radical reduction in sport salmon fishing and an effective closing of the commercial salmon fishing season. The purported reason is to restore the fall Chinook salmon run in the Klamath River system. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has admitted that water mismanagement and environmental degradation of the Klamath River system, not ocean fishing, are the causes of Klamath fall Chinook salmon decline.
In answer to a direct question I asked, the director of NOAA's Office of Protected Resources, Mr. Jim Lecky stated on March 29, 2006 that water management and environmental degradation, not ocean fishing, are the causes of salmon decline in the Klamath River system. Further, the Klamath River fall Chinook is neither threatened nor endangered. NOAA's 35,000 spawner fish requirement is an artificial floor set by the agency. Dr. William Hogarth, director of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), admitted the arbitrary nature of this floor at the same March 29 meeting. As a matter of common sense, a temporary adjustment of this artificial floor is needed while a real fall Chinook restoration plan is implemented.
If NMFS fails to make this temporary and common sense adjustment, I ask you to exercise your discretion under federal fisheries law and your inherent authority as Governor in favor of Oregonians: let us fish this year.
Radically reducing sport salmon fishing and effectively closing commercial salmon fishing is bad policy, extorts a high price from coastal communities, and will not solve the problem. In our coastal communities, every job lost on the water results in the loss of three jobs on dry land. Estimates of the economic impact are in the millions. All this sacrifice with no benefit to the fall Chinook is an ineffective band-aid for bad public policy in the Klamath River system.
Most importantly, this administration is attacking the cultural roots of the Pacific Northwest. If the salmon fishery is effectively closed, the administration is not just terminating an economy; it is ending a way of life. Fishing for salmon is an integral part of who we are. Under previously imposed fishing restrictions, folks who fish for salmon have made innumerable changes and sacrifices to restore the salmon runs. Allowing a sport and commercial salmon season inside the three-mile line, consistent with past regulations, will preserve both the salmon and our way of life.
Please join me in rejecting this federal attack on Oregon's way of life and permit the salmon fishery to continue this season inside the three-mile line.
With warm regards,
David Wu
Member of Congress
CC:
Dr. William T. Hogarth, Director
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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BACKGROUND: In the 1940s, several states claimed jurisdiction over mineral and other resources off their coasts. This was overturned in 1947, when the Supreme Court determined that states had no title to, or property interest in, these resources. In response, the Submerged Lands Act was enacted in 1953 giving coastal states jurisdiction over a region extending 3 nautical miles seaward from the baseline, commonly referred to as state waters.
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