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The canceled salmon season comes as recreational anglers, professional fishermen and biologists watch populations of Pacific salmon, the largest species off the coast of California, plummet. Before the recent winter storms, droughts and heat waves drained and warmed the state’s rivers and reservoirs, impeding the ability of salmon to spawn and reach the ocean safely. Competition between farmers, city dwellers and wildlife managers over declining water resources will only make matters worse.
Fewer than 170,000 adult fall Chinook salmon are expected 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 destined to return to the Klamath, the second lowest projection since such assessments began in 1997.
The two strains are “the backbone of these marine fisheries,” said Robin Ehlke, the council’s salmon staff officer. The last time managers were forced to cancel the salmon fishing season in the area was in 2008 and he in 2009.
Like other salmon, the Chinook (King Salmon) hatches in streams, heads out to sea for food, and returns inland to spawn. After breeding, the adults die, new salmon hatch, and the cycle begins anew. Fish rely on cool, fast-flowing rivers for their powerful migrations. Drought causes rivers to warm up and slow down, making them difficult for Chinook to live in.
“Salmon thrive when conditions are very wet,” said Steve Lindley, Director of the Fisheries Ecology Division at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwestern Fisheries Science Center. “Cold temperatures are better for the eggs. They survive better. Then when the fry migrate to the sea, they can survive much better if the current is high.”
“These things haven’t happened often in the last decade,” he added.
The closure will hit a $1.4 billion fishery that supports 23,000 jobs in California, according to the Golden State Salmon Association. The decision curtailed commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California. Despite the economic hit, many people who depend on salmon fishing for their livelihoods recognize the need to cancel the fishing season.
“It’s a really painful conclusion to reach, but for many reasons, it’s probably the right decision,” said San Francisco salmon captain Sarah Bates.
After heavy rains hit California this year, the state has more water than it knows what to do with. Floods are hard on state residents, but salmon can quickly benefit from rising rivers.
“This should be good for salmon,” said Lindley. “We should see the benefits from this in a few years.”
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