The canceled salmon season comes as recreational anglers, professional anglers and biologists watch the population of the largest species of Pacific salmon fall off the coast of California. Before recent winter storms, drought and heat waves drained and warmed the state’s rivers and reservoirs, hindering salmon’s ability to spawn and reach the ocean safely. Competition among farmers, urban residents and wildlife managers over dwindling water resources only worsens the situation.
Fewer than 170,000 mature fallen Chinook salmon are expected to try to return to the Sacramento River this year, one of the lowest estimates ever by state and federal scientists. And only about 104,000 are slated to attempt to return to the Klamath River, the second-lowest forecast since such assessments began in 1997.
Both stocks are “the backbone of ocean fisheries,” said Robin Ehlke, a salmon staff officer for the council. The last time managers were forced to cancel the salmon season in the region was in 2008 and 2009.
Like other salmon, the Chinook, or king salmon, is hatched in streams, travels to the ocean to feed and returns to land where it was born to lay its eggs. After spawning, the adults die, new salmon hatch and the cycle begins again. Fish rely on cold, high-flowing rivers to make those rapid migrations. Drought makes rivers warmer and slower, making them less hospitable for Chinook.
“Salmon thrive when we have very wet conditions,” said Steve Lindley, director of the fisheries ecology division at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center. “Cold temperatures are good for the eggs. They survive better. And when the young migrate to the sea, when there are more currents, they survive much, much better.
“None of those things have happened regularly in the last decade,” he added.
The closure hit the $1.4 billion fishing industry that supports 23,000 jobs in California, according to the Golden State Salmon Association. The ruling curbs commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California. Despite the economic hit, many who rely on salmon fishing for a living recognize the need to cancel the fishing season.
“It’s a very painful conclusion to reach, but for many reasons, it’s probably the right decision,” said Sarah Bates, a salmon captain from San Francisco.
After the torrential rains that pummeled California this year, the state has more water than it knows what to do with. While flooding is difficult for people living in the state, salmon will soon be able to get out of the overflowing rivers.
“It should be good for the salmon,” Lindley said. “We should see the benefits from this in a few years.”
