New Salmon Numbers Give North Coast Fishermen Hope

BODEGA BAY (KCBS) – North Coast fishermen are optimistic that they'll emerge from the tough economic times they experienced during the last few years now that salmon projections have come back very positive.

Long-time commercial fisherman Chuck Wise of Bodega Bay said that a lot of fishermen cut their losses in 2008 and 2009 when a two-year salmon fishing moratorium was in effect.

"Two years of no fishing was pretty tight," said Wise. "We lost a lot of good fisherman. A lot of people decided to do different things during that period of time."

Dozens of North Coast fishermen gathered in Santa Rosa Tuesday for the latest Chinook salmon projections, which are better than they have been in a while.

KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:

Sport fisherman Jim Martin of Fort Bragg said that when fishermen suffer financially, so does the local economy.

"Ports are losing their ice houses, (and) we had our marine fuel dock closed last year in Fort Bragg," said Martin. "It really has a huge effect on the local economy when we don't have fish."

He said that an annual 4th of July salmon barbeque in Fort Bragg is held to raise money for salmon restoration, and for the past few years the fish had to be brought in from Alaska. Martin is hoping that the meal will be made up of local fish this year.

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