Federal fisheries managers voted Wednesday to halt all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California, citing declining stocks, for the second year in a row and for the fourth time in the state’s history.
The unanimous vote by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, the authority responsible for setting the Pacific salmon fishing season, is a blow to the state’s fisheries, which support tens of thousands of jobs and are still reeling from last year’s closure. California also closed salmon fishing during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
As in 2023, this year’s decision is due to a decline in California’s salmon population after drought and water diversion have caused river flows to become too warm and slow for the state’s Chinook salmon to thrive. This was done to protect the decline.
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In 2023, just over 6,100 fall-migrating Chinook (also known as king salmon) will return to the upper Sacramento River to spawn, according to a February Fisheries Council report. From 1996 to 2005, he averaged over 175,000 fish.
For the time being, the ban affects commercial and recreational marine fishing. However, the City Council recommended that the California Fish and Game Commission consider banning fishing in the river as well. State officials plan to vote in the coming weeks.
Sarah Bates pulls up a Chinook salmon on the fishing boat Bounty near Bolinas, California, on July 17, 2019. On April 10, 2024, federal fisheries managers voted to suspend commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California for two years. This is the fourth consecutive time in state history due to inventory reduction. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
Salmon populations are facing a number of challenges, including rising river temperatures due to warmer weather and the rollback of Trump-era federal protections for waterways that allowed more water to be diverted to farms. confronting. Meanwhile, climate change threatens food sources for young Chinook that mature in the Pacific Ocean.
Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, said the state’s water policy under Gov. Gavin Newsom has resulted in “dangerously reduced river flows, unsustainable river diversions, “Dam operations have resulted in record high water temperatures and record salmon numbers,” he said. Eggs and juveniles killed in our rivers. ”
“Our water, our natural resources, the resources that all Californians and the entire salmon industry depend on are being stolen on Governor Newsom’s watch,” Artis said Wednesday after the council’s decision. said in a statement.
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The governor’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the closure.
Much of the salmon caught at sea comes from California’s Klamath and Sacramento rivers. After hatching in freshwater, they take an average of three years to mature in the Pacific Ocean, where they are captured by many fishermen before returning to spawning grounds where conditions are perfect for giving birth. After laying eggs, they die.
While California’s spring Chinook are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, winter Chinook, along with coho salmon on the central California coast, are endangered and have been in California since the 1990s. commercial fishermen are prohibited from entering.
