COOS BAY — The score: Commercial salmon fishermen, 2 or 3; recreational salmon fishermen, 1. Coastal communities in Oregon and California: losers.

There’s no real competition between the sport and commercial fleets, as many fishermen from both parties attested to Monday night. Rather, the numbers reflect their choices of options for 2008 ocean salmon seasons.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council held a hearing at the Red Lion Hotel on Monday to take input from local fishermen on their preferences for three options for both commercial and sport ocean salmon seasons.

 Anglers and trollers have known for months that the news is grim. Salmon returns are down on many West Coast rivers and last year, the Sacramento River in California experienced devastatingly low returns of fall Chinook. The result is little to no chance of wetting a hook and catching a king salmon on the ocean for most of the year. For anyone.

 The three options for local sport fishermen, which includes the charter boat fleet, are:

*Option 1, the most liberal: April 15 through June 15, all salmon except coho, one fish per day, 24-inch Chinook size limit; and June 22 through earlier of Aug. 31 or a landed catch of 10,000 marked coho;

 * Option 2, in the middle: No Chinook fishery, but a coho-only fishery June 22 through the earlier of Aug. 31 or a landed catch of 6,000 marked coho; and

* Option 3, the most restrictive: Chinook and coho seasons closed completely.

For commercial trollers fishing between Cape Falcon on the North Oregon Coast and Humbug Mountain, near Port Orford, the options range from a liberal 45-day season to no season at all. South of Humbug, the options are even more restrictive. The abbreviated options include:

* Option 1: April 15 to May 31, all salmon except coho, 28-inch Chinook size limit;

* Option 2: closed season, except for sufficient impacts to continue genetic stock identification studies May 1 through Aug. 31; and

* Option 3: Closed completely.

Before public testimony started, council representative Rod Moore asked for a straw poll, asking those in the audience to raise their hands if they were commercial fishermen.

 Almost two dozen of the roughly 75 folks attending raised their hands.

 Moore then asked for a show of hands for those in favor of option No. 1, 45 days of fishing.

Only one, hesitantly, and trying to urge other trollers to keep their hands up, did. Sort of. His hand quickly dropped.

More were in favor of option No. 2, which would allow for ongoing genetic stock research and about the same number were in favor of closing the season altogether.

Sports fishermen voted differently.

Every sport fisherman except for one voted for the most liberal option, No. 1, that would allow for some Chinook fishing. Not a single angler voted for a coho-only season. The other vote was for a closed season.

But when folks started to speak, it was clear this year is much more difficult to handle.

“Everything’s so depressed, maybe you should shut the whole thing down,” Brookings commercial fisherman and river guide James Day said, noting that problems with fewer salmon may be due to midwater hake boats that trawl for Pacific whiting in the summer or maybe sea lions.

“They’re a big headache to us when you’re trying to fish,” Day said of the marine mammals.

In years past, the meeting room at the Red Lion has been packed with fishermen. In 2006, when Klamath River returns fell, commercial fishermen pleaded for every fish they could get. It was standing-room only in the Umpqua Room. The hearing lasted past 9 p.m.

Monday was a stark contrast. Many chairs were empty. Familiar faces making their cases for liberal seasons in the past didn’t attend. The hearing was over by 8:45 p.m.

Many commercial fishermen have resigned themselves to the fact they likely won’t be able to fish this year, trollers said. Their focus now is on getting federal help not only for commercial fleets but also charter companies, related businesses, ports and agencies.

Yet several folks from Brookings and Curry County testified to the magnitude of damage no sport or commercial seasons would have on many of the smaller coastal towns. Tourism already is being affected, some folks said, because of the concern inland and in the Eastern U.S. that there is no fishing on the West Coast. Just the publicity circulating about the dire straits of the salmon industry is having an effect.

“It’s going to be horrible,” Curry County Commissioner Lucie LaBonte said. “When this goes away, it’s a major disaster.This is it for us. We are going down.”

Hearings officer Rod Moore asked several folks for hard numbers regarding economic impacts.

“Can you provide those to the council before it meets?” Moore asked.

Solid numbers showing direct economic effects could be the only way the National Marine Fisheries Service could justify any fishing or scientific work done on salmon that could have an impact on Sacramento River stocks, Moore said.

The commercial season, option No. 2, a non-retention fishery that would allow for genetic sampling, is necessary, LaBonte added — testimony many commercial fishermen agreed with.

“It’s very important we have that science done,” LaBonte said.

The input and comments will be collected and considered when the full PFMC meets again in Seattle April 6-12, during which time the council will make final season determinations. Those recommendations will then be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval.

On the Net: www.pcouncil.org