The weakness of the salmon population in California could prevent fishing for the third year

The California salmon population has decreased so severely in recent years that regulators have canceled the fishing season in 2023 and again in 2024.

This year, state estimates show that the number of quinnat salmon is still so low that fishing could again be prohibited – or if not, strongly limited – to help fishing stocks to recover.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, a almost multi-state body, should decide in April after a series of meetings, whether there will be a limited fishing season or not at all.

Newly released numbers Of the department of California of Fish and Wildlife estimates the number of quinnat salmon in the fall of the Sacramento river in the ocean this year at nearly 166,000 fish – against a pre -season estimate of 214,000 last year, and similar to the 2023 estimate of 169,000 fish.

These figures represent a much larger drop in salmon that has traveled the California rivers a decade ago or more.

“It’s just another bad year that is at our doorstep, and it’s regrettable for everyone,” said Scott Artis, executive director of Golden State Salmon Assn., A non -profit group that represents fishing communities. “Commercial and recreational fishing companies have had difficulties.”

The fishing season generally takes place from May to October, and in recent years, the state salmon fishing fleet has counted approximately 460 ships, said Artis. But many owners of boats and crew members have recently turned to other work To reach both ends. Some have put their boats on sale.

“Many guys right now are mainly terrestrial jobs because fishing has just been devastated,” said George Jue, commercial fisherman of Pillar Point Harbor to Half Moon Bay.

JUE said that he had three other types of fishing permit, which allowed him to continue to earn a living by grabbing skillful crab, rock crab and sebaste. Even as many fishing boats have been inactive in the port in recent times, JUE and a group of other fishermen have been busy transporting in traps filled with crabs.

Once this season is over, said JUE, he is expecting little or no salmon fishing this year. “This port will be dead.”

Many of those who work in the fishing industry blame California water managers for the low number of salmon, saying that too much water has been sent to farms and cities, depriving the rivers of the cold river flows which salmon needs to survive.

Artis said that if the severe drought of 2020-222 contributed to the decline, it also blamed a large part of the “mismanagement of water” by the administration of Governor Gavin Newsom, who, according to him, prioritized agriculture supplies while subamving rivers of vital water which depend on salmon. These low speeds and temperatures of hot water during drought, he said, “killed the salmon and killed the fishing industry”.

Coastal fishing was canceled for two consecutive years once before, in 2008 and 2009. If fishing is canceled for a third year, it would be the longest closure of California.

State biologists say that salmon populations have decreased due to a Combination of factorslike the dams, which blocked the frai areas, and global warming, which is Intensification of droughts And causing warmer temperatures in rivers.

During the drought of 2020-2022, the water flowing from the dams is sometimes so hot that it was Mortal for salmon eggs. And because the salmon generally feeds in the ocean for about three years and then returns to their native streams, the drop in the number of surviving juvenile fish during drought left a reduced population of adult fish.

“The reality is that the figures still do not seem good,” said Charlton “Chuck” Bonham, director of California Department of Fish and Wildlife, during a virtual briefing on Tuesday.

Bonham said the Newsom administration Help salmon populations to recover include Restore tidal habitatsModernization of infrastructure, remove the barriers that hinder the migration of fish, and reintroducing salmon in traditional frai areas Upstream of the dams.

After Damage of dams On the Klamath river near the California-ear border last year, biologists have Salmon spotted salmon Far upstream in the waters which were previously inaccessible for more than a century.

“I have great joy and excitement about certain progress, and I also have great uncertainty and great sadness about the challenges we see for salmon,” said Bonham. He said that state initiatives, detailed in a Salmon strategy Launched last year, bring a “good amount of hope”.

Fishing regulators will weigh alternatives in the coming weeks, said Bonham, to determine if it is very careful to limit the fishing season or close it again this year.

Salmon is not only a pillar of commercial and recreational fishing companies, but also at the heart of the cultures of the native tribes, which continue the traditions of subsistence fishing.

The fishing industry depends on Chinook managed by fall, which migrates upstream to appear from July to December.

Other salmon races have decreased to the point that they are at risk of extinction. Spring Chinook are listed as threatened under the endangered species law, and Chinook managed by winter are threatened.

For decades, hatching managed by the government in the central valley have raised and released millions of salmon each year to help increase their number.

The hatching exploited by the state have increased more salmon and in the past three years, the release of around 30% of fish more than in previous years, said Jay Rowan, head of the peaches of the fish and fauna department.

“Many people earn their lives in this fishing,” said Rowan. “We certainly feel for these people, and we want to do everything we can to make this population rebounded.”

Natural cycles could also help. Scientists say that wet winters since 2023 provided favorable conditions For salmon and, because fish mainly have a three -year life cycle, this could allow the population to increase from 2026 – a model that has occurred in the past.

JUE, the commercial fisherman, said that he would like the salmon fishing season to have reopened this year. But if the season falls within strict limits, he said that it would probably think about most other boat captains twice before investing time and money for minimal profit.

JUE said he would like to see more priority water for the maintenance of salmon populations. But, he noted, in the political field, the influence of the salmon fishing industry – which can generate approximately $ 1.4 billion in revenue during a good year – pale compared to the agricultural industry, which produced more than $ 59 billion per year.

“Agriculture lobbyists are much stronger,” said Jue. “We are not compared to agriculture. … We have no voice.

The closure of the fishing has wreaked havoc not only on the commercial fishing fleet but also on operators of Charter fishing boatsas well as stores that sell baits and tackles.

“Families find it difficult to reach both ends,” said Artis. “It will simply continue until we recover our salmon, or we will completely eradicate the fishing industry.”