Ocean salmon fishing season is set to be prohibited this year off California and much of Oregon for the second time in 15 years.
A new report shows that the drought in California is killing the winter-run Chinook salmon species found in the Sacramento River, and one scientist says this species will not be the last to take a hit.As drought dried up rivers that carry California's newly hatched Chinook salmon to the ocean, state officials in recent years resorted to loading up the fish by the millions onto trucks and barges to take them to the Pacific.
Experts fear native California salmon, which make up a significant portion of the Pacific Northwest's fishing industry, are in a spiral toward extinction. Much of the salmon caught off Oregon originate in California's Klamath and Sacramento rivers. After hatching in freshwater, they spend three years on average maturing in the Pacific, where many are snagged by commercial fishermen, before migrating back to their spawning grounds, where conditions are more ideal to give birth.
Though the closure will deal a blow to the industry that supports tens of thousands of jobs, few are disputing it. Glen Spain, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said he believes the ban might need to be in place for two or three years to bring back sustainable stocks after many fish died in 2020, the start of a record-dry period.
"This one ain't on us," said Bob Maharry, 68, a lifelong San Francisco-based fisherman. "This has nothing to do with overfishing. This is poor management of water." Businesses tied to salmon want the government to declare the situation a federal disaster so they may receive aid. As the market shrinks, more restaurants turn to farm-raised salmon, while gear suppliers stop stocking the proper equipment to fish Chinook.
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