Fishermen Plan to Raise, Release Salmon : Recreation: The group plans to put 50,000 fish in ocean waters at Oxnard. It is the first such project in Southern California.

Ventura County fishermen are putting the finishing touches on a project to bring 50,000 king salmon to Oxnard’s Channel Islands Harbor.

In the first such attempt in Southern California, the Ventura County chapter of the United Anglers of California Research Institute will introduce the fish into ocean waters.

If the project is successful, fishermen say, it could bring a major sportfishing business to Ventura County and set a trend for areas in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“It could become a multimillion-dollar industry,” said James Donlon, chairman of the Ventura County chapter. “The project has the potential for establishing a fishery that will be mind-boggling.”

Such a venture would eliminate the need for people to leave Ventura County to fish in Oregon, Washington or Mexico, he said.

Construction of three rearing pens to be attached to the Cisco docks in Oxnard’s Channel Islands Harbor is scheduled to be completed within a month. Each wooden pen, supported on plastic floats, will measure 16 feet by 16 feet and sink to a depth of 8 feet.

The fish will be reared in the pens for about five months until they weigh about a quarter of a pound and are about 10 inches long. Then they will be released.

The salmon should return to the area in two to three years when they are mature fish, the group said.

The harbor was pronounced fit for fish after being tested for the level of dissolved oxygen in the water, the flow of water within the harbor, the amount of algae growth and the water temperature.

The real test, though, comes in mid-May with the arrival of the 2-inch fish, which have been hatched at a facility near Sacramento.

In nature, the salmon survival rate is between 1% and 2%. But with a project like this, the fishermen are hoping for survival rates of almost 95%.

In 1967, the Ventura group tried to start a silver salmon fishery using lagoons at Point Mugu. That method, however, did not work.

This time, they are basing their project on a similar one in the Port of San Luis Obispo that they say has successfully released about 50,000 salmon each year for the past six years.

Last summer, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved a $20,000 grant to help establish the salmon-raising project. But the program could cost up to $45,000 annually.

The group is preparing to approach local oil companies for grants and is hoping for funds from Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, said John Trahan, who is in charge of fund raising and publicity for the project.

Already the group is thinking of building a hatchery in Ventura County.

“Downstream, we hope to have something that will reproduce fish here in Ventura County,” Trahan said.