Salmon Fishery Closed For Third Year In A Row

Chinook salmon congregate outside Nimbus Fish Hatchery. Credit: California Department of Water Resources

On April 15, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to close the commercial salmon fishery for the third year in a row, and restricted sportfishing for salmon to a very brief window.

While these measures are necessary to protect salmon stocks, the impacts are mostly felt by fishing communities and the seafood industries they support. In contrast, the major causes of salmon population declines are lethal river temperatures and inadequate flows that have devastated Sacramento River Chinook salmon spawning and rearing conditions – the direct result of poor management decisions and inadequate flow and temperature requirements. Repeatedly, the state has relaxed even these inadequate requirements to increase water supply for Central Valley irrigators, while allowing the burden to fall on aquatic resources and the fishing folk that depend on them. Proposed Sacramento Valley projects like Sites Reservoir and the raise of Shasta Dam would only exacerbate these impacts. That’s why Friends of the River is working to secure stronger flow and temperature standards for the Sacramento River basin and the Delta from the State Water Resources Control Board and opposing the new dam proposals. For more information on the fishing community perspective, see Golden State Salmon Association’s Press Release.