California salmon fishing season faces possible shutdown

Years of drought have driven chinook salmon populations so low that regional fishing supervisors are recommending a full closure of California fishing operations until 2024.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council — which oversees fishing along the Washington, Oregon and California coasts — voiced their unanimous support on Thursday for shuttering California’s commercial and recreational ocean salmon season this fall.

The shutdown — the first in 14 years — would follow recent projections showing that chinook salmon numbers off California’s coast have plunged to historic lows, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Also included in the recommendation, which must be enforced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries branch, are most fishing areas off the coast of Oregon. 

“The forecasts for chinook returning to California rivers this year are near record lows,” Council Chair Marc Gorelnik said in a statement.

“The poor conditions in the freshwater environment that contributed to these low forecasted returns are unfortunately not something that the Council can, or has authority to, control,” Gorelnik added.

State and federal fishery scientists predicted last month that Sacramento River fall chinook stock would reach only about 170,000 adults this year — one of the lowest forecasts since such assessments began in 2008.

For the Klamath River, fall chinook was expected to reach only about 104,000 adults, the second lowest forecast since measurements there began in 1997.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said that the closure would likely take effect in mid-May, noting that the California Fish and Game Commission will also be considering a shutdown of inland salmon fisheries.

The last time such a shutdown occurred was in 2009, when fishing managers predicted that just about 122,000 chinook would return to the Sacramento River that fall.

The poor forecasts this year account largely for the number of salmon that began their initial ocean journey about three years ago and were affected by a prolonged drought sequence, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Salmon returning three years from now, however, will likely benefit from the significant precipitation California received this winter, the agency explained.

This year’s closure recommendation “is intended to allow salmon to recover in order to provide future fishing opportunities,” Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton Bonham said in a statement.

Describing salmon as “an iconic species in California,” Bonham stressed the state’s commitment “to ensuring long-term survival of our salmon runs.”

“We are looking into all possible options to bring relief as soon as possible to fishing businesses,” Bonham added. 

Following the Pacific Fishery Management Council vote on Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D) announced a request for a Federal Fishery Disaster Declaration to support affected Californians.

“Countless families, coastal communities and tribal nations depend on salmon fishing — it’s more than an industry, it’s a way of life,” Newsom said in a statement. 

“That’s why we’re requesting expedited relief from the federal government,” the governor added.