CHARLESTON — The fishing vessel Kristy Ann's fish holds are full of ice and ready to fish for halibut today. The Kara J is having concrete work done on its holds before going tuna fishing.

But for commercial fisherman Steve Wilson, who owns both vessels, the only thing on his mind is salmon.

There is no season this year. Now, Wilson said, hopes of an equitable disaster funding distribution are fading as well.

“It’s a slap in the face,” Wilson said.

Congress provided $170 million in disaster money for commercial and charter boat fishermen, industry suppliers and related businesses in the recently passed Farm Bill. All three West Coast states qualified due to low returns of salmon, primarily Chinook in California and Oregon and some coho runs in Washington.

It’s a situation similar to 2006, when much of the commercial season was closed and fishermen were granted $60 million in disaster relief funds. The money wasn’t given out until 2007.

The difference this year? Fishermen say they were left out of the process and don’t like the results.

“It’s a shocker to everybody,” Oregon Salmon Commission Chairman Darus Peake said Tuesday.

The particulars

The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, the agency responsible for distributing the funds last year and this year, sent a letter to the Salmon Commission dated Friday. The packet contained the criteria, eligibility requirements and payment procedures for the disaster program.

Pacific States Executive Director Randy Fisher said last week that each state was coming up with criteria that would then be forwarded to the commission. Once the commission reviewed the states’ plans, the package would be sent to the National Marine Fisheries Service for legal review.

Fishermen, through the Oregon Salmon Commission, presented Pacific States with a proposed plan in June. It called for a baseline amount of $8,000 for every fisherman who qualified, plus lost personal income based on the value of the fish, up to a cap of $75,000. The criteria for qualification said that a fisherman must have a 2008 troll permit and have at least one landing in 2005, 2006, 2007 or 2008.

Fishermen were shocked Monday when they found out that fishermen who didn’t make even one single landing in 2005, 2006 or 2007 would get $2,000 each under the Pacific States criteria. Furthermore, if a salmon troller made one delivery of Chinook during those years, for example, that fishermen would get a minimum of $5,000 — even if he was paid much less for that single delivery. Trollers who made steady deliveries would be paid 100 percent of their income from their best year, up to a $75,000 cap.

Wilson couldn’t hide his disbelief.

“Permit owners get $2,000? Even if they didn’t fish? That’s not a good thing,” he said. “That’s promoting speculation.”

Some fishermen will buy permits as backups in case another fishery becomes too over-regulated or the fishery is closed for some reason. Others will buy permits fully intending to use them.

Wilson bought his salmon permits during the disaster years, when fishing was bad or the season was closed — 2005 to 2007. But he had fished salmon back when Chinooks filled the rivers and fish holds of boats from California to Washington, in the mid-1980s. He banked on better seasons in the future to keep both his boats running and keep his crew working full-time.

Frustrations

Fisher, with Pacific States, said last week he was still waiting on the states for guidance and would not compare this year’s disaster distribution to last year’s, beyond making the money easier to distribute.

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” he said, “make it one-size-fits-all,” Fisher said. “We’re trying to get the states as close as we can — for fairness. That’s what’s being worked on right now.”

Oregon Salmon Commission Administrator Nancy Fitzpatrick said today she understands the fleet’s frustration.

The commission and the fleet were at the table for the 2007 discussion, she said, but not this one. The guys scrambling to find another fishery or to make ends meet are anxious.

“There are some concerns, but at the same time, there is federal money coming down,” she said.

Fisher said that if all goes well, checks could arrive in mailboxes at the end of August or beginning of September.