The Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended a huge cut in the West Coast commercial salmon season Thursday.  While the Council didn’t outright ban fishing, it limited the catch to just 75 per week, which is close to what many can catch in a day, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Commercial fishermen said the truncated season could prove a death blow to hard-hit fleets and communities that count on salmon as an economic and cultural cornerstone. The fish will survive, they said, but the fishing industry may not.

The decision has been forwarded to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for final approval. The service has said it would follow the council’s recommendation.  The Times has a good description of the history that led to this decision and reactions from fishermen.  Although chinook salmon are plentiful right now, the ban applies to all salmon from Northern California and Oregon because it’s not possible to selectively fish for one variety. There is also a good article at the Monterey County Herald.

Click for the Pacific Fishery Management Council press release, which contains extensive information on the decision-making process.

The cancellation or curtailment of the salmon season could have an adverse effect on the San Mateo County Harbor District, reports the Examiner.

The district — which oversees operations for Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay and Oyster Point Marina in South San Francisco — estimates it could lose as much as $300,000 in revenue if the salmon season is canceled. The loss would only add to the current $900,000 deficit, an amount that would normally narrow to about $200,000 as the spring fishing season picks up, Harbor District General Manager Peter Grenell said.

An increase in the deficit could lead the district to put off capital projects that have already been approved.  The district has been aggressively seeking the right to build on the portion of El Granada’s Burnham Strip that it owns.

I’m always depressed when a local business closes, but it’s especially bad news to lose a restaurant that is as good, casual, and local-friendly as the Two Fools Café.  We had an especially fond feelings for them becuase they were always friendly and unflappable when we brought our rambunctious two-year-old with us for dinner.

Salmon fishing could be banned between Point Sur in Monterey County through northern Oregon.  The Pacific Fisheries Management Council is considering that option to save chinook salmon, and will make a recommendation on limits to the National Marine Fisheries Service in April, according to an AP story in the Mercury News.

For the third year in a row, the number of mature chinook salmon leaving the ocean to spawn in the Klamath River is expected to fall below the required 35,000 minimum, which could lead to new regulations to combat overfishing.

Even with an outright ban, only 29,000 spawning salmon are expected to return to the Klamath this year, Tracy said.

The season typically lasts from May through September. Last year, it didn’t start until July and lasted until October 15 and was far short of expectations.

The recent cold snap has damaged crops on the Coastside, costing farmers money and farmworkers employment.  The County Times talks to Half Moon Bay Nursery owner Ron Mickelsen, George Armanino of Mazzanti Carnations in Pescadero, Half Moon Bay farmer John Muller, and Ed Riley of Giusti Farms.

“It’s so cold that nothing wants to grow, and we didn’t have a lot of production to begin with,” said Muller. “Last year we were picking 60 or 100 boxes (of mint) a day. This year, we’ll be lucky if we get 20.”

The setback hadn’t simply affected his own profits, either. “It impacts the employees too, because they’re not pulling in hours,” said Muller.

Moon Bay, the Chinese restaurant that has been a fixture on the corner of Highway 1 and Avenue Granada in El Granada [Google satellite photo] has closed.

According to a notice on the door, it will be the future site of Red Ginger, which “will offer a Pan-Asian menu features as delicious fusion of fresh, ‘farm-to-table’ foods from all over Asia.” The restaurant plans to open in March.  The number of the new owners is 726-2888.

On the other side of the hill, you can pretty much get whatever cell phone service offers you the best deal or the coolest phone. Here in paradise, it’s little more complicated. Cell phone coverage is really bad in unpredictable ways. 

Please share your experiences with cell phone service on the coast and make your recommendations. Tell us where you can and can’t get reception. Be sure to tell us not only who your carrier is, but what phone you’re using.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: We first ran a version of this story back in June 2004, but things have changed since then and we have a lot more readers.

Dungeness crabs in most of the Pacific fisheries won’t be ready to harvest until the end of the year, but the crabs are ready in Half Moon Bay, San Francisco and Bodega Bay, reports the Daily Journal.

Comcast is raising its standard cable rates by about 7% in January. About 80% of Comcast’s 1.6 million customers in the Bay area buy this tier of service, reports the Mercury News. From the County Times:

“Comcast’s Bay Area market prices reflect increasing operating expenses, in particular higher energy costs, as well as investments that Comcast is making to improve the value of the services,” Comcast’s Johnson said in a statement. “Comcast has invested nearly $200 million to maintain and enhance its fiber optic network in the Bay Area” and improve customer service, he said.

Last year, Comcast is raised its rates 5.7% for nearly all Bay Area communities, following rate increases of 5.9% in November 2003 and 6.5% in January 2003. That’s a 28% increase in the four years from 2002 to 2006. The Consumer Price Index increased 8% in the three years from 2002 to 2005. 

Crab fishermen have come to an agreement with processors, $1.75 per pound, and crab fishing has begun, according to the Chronicle. Although the story mentions only San Francisco, the Half Moon Bay fleet is included.

Last year, the processors paid crabbers $1.75 a pound. The harvest yielded 23.7 million pounds.

Pete Kalvass, a marine biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game, said this year’s catch may not be as abundant.

“It’s pretty safe to say that coming off back-to-back record years, this season’s catch will be smaller,’’ Kalvass predicted.

Still, he said, the take for local fishers may prove bountiful. The start of the crab season north of Mendocino and into Oregon and Washington has been delayed until at least Dec. 15. And fishermen who come into the Central California waters and make a landing would see the start of their season delayed even longer, under government regulations set up to protect local crabbers.