`Putting Boathouse Up For Sale,' Says Resort Operator After Ban

For most people, unprecedented salmon-fishing bans from Ilwaco to Seattle are a frightening harbinger of economic disaster. For resort operators, they're a death sentence.

"I'm putting the boathouse up for sale . . . for whatever good that does," Chris Mohr, owner of Van Riper's Resort at Sekiu, said in wake of word that the Strait of Juan de Fuca and waters off the coast of Washington, Oregon and Northern California will be closed to all salmon fishing from May 1 to Oct. 31. Fishing in much of Puget Sound will be restricted.

"I've got a feeling a lot more signs will be popping up around here."

And elsewhere. All around Puget Sound, fishermen and resort operators reacted with shock, dismay, then anger as details of the most restrictive salmon-fishing regulations in history filtered out of fish-management meetings in California.

"Ouch. Whew, man. This is devastating," said Phil Brown of Bush Point Resort on west Whidbey Island, where fishing will be closed from July to November. "I think that's just about going to put a lid on it."

As expected, the Pacific Fishery Management Council yesterday adopted a complete ocean-salmon fishing ban from San Francisco to Neah Bay. Washington's coastal waters will be disturbed only briefly in May and June for a tribal catch of about 16,000 chinook.

Anglers expected and reluctantly accepted those restrictions. But many were caught off guard by the unprecedented scope of the restrictions for interior waters.

Most areas of Puget Sound were hit with closures from July to October, when fishing and the fishing industry typically peak. Others were closed outright for the season.

Only the San Juan Islands and southern Puget Sound, from Vashon Island to Olympia, will remain open all summer. Both areas are isolated from the wild-coho-migration highway.

The biggest blow to fishermen is the summer-long closure of the strait, one of the Northwest's more popular and productive salmon-fishing venues.

The other landmark, unprecedented closure was the popular "Buoy 10" fishery off the mouth of the Columbia River. That area, long among the most productive rod-and-reel salmon fisheries in the Northwest, was closed completely.

A few areas inside Puget Sound, however, might benefit from the tight restrictions elsewhere. With the strait closure, early season fisheries in the north Sound, for example, might be especially productive, said Tony Floor, spokesman for the state Fisheries and Wildlife Department.

The San Juan Islands also should be productive. And south Puget Sound resort operators already are bracing for a flood of anglers when waters to the north close in July.

"We get our best fishing in August," said Art Tachell, manager of the Point Defiance Boathouse in Tacoma. "It looks like we're gonna have a very busy season."

Coastal charter operators seemed resigned to the blanket ocean closures, which had been anticipated for weeks. Most said they would try to make ends meet with bottom fishing and whale- and bird-watching trips. Seattle Times staff member Mark Yuasa contributed to this article. -----------------------------------------------------------------

1994

Summer recreational salmon fishing seasons

Pacific Ocean (state catch areas 1, 2, 3 and 4, from Ilwaco to Neah Bay): Closed to all salmon fishing except tribal treaty troll, 16,400 chinook, May-June.

Strait of Juan de Fuca: (Catch areas 5 and 6) closed from May 1 to Oct. 31. #

San Juan Islands (catch area 7): Open May 1 to Sept. 5 with two-fish limit; Sept. 6 to Oct. 31 with one-fish limit.

Whidbey Island/Saratoga Passage/Port Gardner (catch areas 8-1 and 8-2): Closed May 1 to Oct. 31. #

Admiralty Inlet, northern Puget Sound (catch area 9): Open May 1 to June 30 with two fish limit. Closed July 1 to Oct. 31. #

Hood Canal (catch area 12): Closed May 1 to Oct. 31. #

Central Puget Sound (catch area 10): Open May 1 to June 30 with a two-fish limit. Closed July 1 to Oct. 15.

South Puget Sound (catch Areas 11 and 13): Open May 1 through Dec. 31 with two-fish daily limit.

Buoy 10, Columbia River mouth: Closed all season.

Columbia River: Open upstream of the Tongue Point-Grays Point line near Astoria Aug. 1.

Willapa Bay: Open for limited fishing Aug. 16.

River Fisheries: Seasons and limits for allreivers, including Columbia tributaries, to be announced later.

"Bubble Fisheries": Limited fishing open Sept. 1 through Oct. 15 at Oak Harbor, Tulalip Bay, mouth of Snohomish River, Edmonds Pier, Port Madison, Allen Bank and Elliott Bay.

# Areas closed through Oct. 31 reopen Nov. 1 with a two-fish limit.