Fry 



Chapter 25 



Pollution and Fishing Threats 



British Columbia or Alaska. Plenert (U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service 1993b) indicated that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 anticipated an incidental take of five murrelets from the 

 1993 all-citizens fishery, and another five murrelets from 

 the tribal fishery, levels not thought to be injurious to the 

 murrelet population. The greatest threat from fisheries bycatch 

 is in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and the San Juan 

 Islands, where the largest murrelet population is located. 



Oregon 



Gill-net fishing has been prohibited along the outer 

 coast of Oregon and in estuaries and bays since 1942 (Nelson 

 and others 1992). A gill-net fishery exists in the Columbia 

 River, but no murrelet bycatch has been recorded during 

 observer programs in 1991-1993 (Jeff cries and Brown 1993). 



California 



Gill-net fishing is prohibited north of Point Reyes, Marin 

 County, and prohibited in waters less than 40 fathoms from 

 Point Reyes south to Santa Cruz County, and in waters less 

 than 30 fathoms south to Point Conception, largely to prevent 

 bycatch of birds and sea otters. If these restrictions are 

 maintained, the threat to murrelets from net fisheries is 

 largely eliminated. 



Acknowledgments 



The author would like to thank Nancy Ottum and Denise 

 Chakorian for help in preparation of the manuscript, and 

 Dan Anderson, Robert Risebrough, and Harry Carter, for 

 reviewing drafts. 



260 



USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-152. 1995. 



