Federal fisheries managers voted Wednesday to cancel all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the California coast. second year in a rowand for only the fourth time in state history due to dwindling supplies.
The unanimous vote of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the body responsible for determining Pacific salmon seasons, is blow to the state fishing industry which supports tens of thousands of jobs and is still reeling from last year’s closure. Salmon fishing was also closed in California during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
As in 2023, this year’s decision was made to protect California’s dwindling salmon population after drought and water diversions left river flows too warm and slow for Chinook salmon to thrive in the state.
A February report from the Fisheries Council found that in 2023, just over 6,100 fall Chinook salmon, often known as king salmon, returned to the upper Sacramento River to spawn. On average, more than 175,000 fish were caught between 1996 and 2005.
The ban currently affects commercial and recreational ocean fishing. However, the council recommended that the California Fish and Game Commission consider banning river fishing as well. The state agency is expected to vote in the coming weeks.
The salmon population faces a number of challenges, including rising river temperatures due to warm weather and Rolling back federal protections in the Trump era for waterways that allowed more water to be diverted to farms. Meanwhile, climate change threatens food sources for young Chinook salmon maturing in the Pacific Ocean.
Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, said the state’s water policies under Gov. Gavin Newsom have led to “dangerously low river flows, unsustainable water withdrawals from our rivers, record high water temperatures due to dam operations, and record numbers of salmon.” eggs and juveniles killed in our streams.”
“Our water, our natural resources, the resources that every Californian and the entire salmon industry rely on are being stolen under Governor Newsom’s watch,” Artis said in a statement Wednesday after the council’s decision.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the closure.
Most salmon caught in the ocean come from California’s Klamath and Sacramento rivers. After hatching in fresh water, they spend an average of three years maturing in the Pacific Ocean, where many are caught by commercial fishermen, before migrating back to their breeding grounds where conditions are more ideal for giving birth to their young. Having laid eggs, they die.
California’s spring Chinook salmon are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and winter-run Chinook salmon are listed as endangered along with Central California Coast coho salmon, which have been off limits to California commercial fishermen since the 1990s.