Commercial salmon fishing in California will be closed for a third year
in a row
[April 16, 2025] SAN
JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The 2025 commercial salmon fishing season in
California will be closed for an unprecedented third year running, and
sportfishing will be restricted to only a few days due to dwindling
numbers of fish, fishing regulators voted Tuesday.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages West Coast
fisheries, warned earlier this year there would be limited salmon
fishing this year in California, if at all, because of a predicted low
number of fall-run Chinook salmon, often known as king salmon, in the
Sacramento River.
“This closed commercial and token recreational fishing season is a human
tragedy, as well as an economic and environmental disaster,” Scott Artis,
executive director of Golden State Salmon Association, said in a
statement.
Salmon fishing is wildly popular in California but has been off limits
for the past two years to commercial and recreational fishing due to
dwindling stocks. People who commercially fish blame the issue on a
years-earlier drought that walloped waterways, as well as state and
federal water management policies they say have made it tough for the
species to thrive.
Sacramento River fall-run Chinook, historically the largest contributor
to the ocean salmon harvest off California and Oregon, have experienced
dramatic declines over the last five years, according to the
association. The Pacific Fishery Management Council has also voted to
highly curtail the commercial salmon fishing season in Oregon this year,
the association said.
Salmon must swim upstream to lay their eggs, and young fish then make
their way out to the ocean through waterways that wind through the
state. That's done more easily when cool water flows are abundant.
Agricultural water diversions described as excessive by anglers led to
warm river temperatures and low flows when baby salmon were trying to
make it from their spawning beds to the ocean.
[to top of second column] |
Chinook salmons are seen after being unloaded at Fisherman's Wharf
in San Francisco, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg,
File)
 The closure comes a few months after
President Donald Trump ordered officials to find ways to put “people
over fish” and route more water to farmers in California’s fertile
Central Valley and residents of its densely populated cities.
The ongoing battle over where to route the water
and how much tends to pit California environmental groups and
anglers against the state’s farm industry, which produces much of
the country’s fresh fruit, nuts and vegetables.
Trump contends too much water is being used to protect the tiny
delta smelt, a federally threatened species seen as an indicator of
the health of the Sacramento- San Joaquin River Delta, but salmon
rely on the same water for their survival.
California’s salmon fishing industry includes commercial fleets and
charters that take anglers out for recreation. Commercial fleets
have been especially hard hit by the closures. Earlier this year,
there were fewer than 900 permits for commercial salmon fishing in
the state compared to 1,200 in 2010, according to Dock Street
Brokers.
Recreational fishing charters have also been hit by the closures and
have been devoting their boats to activities ranging from party
tours to ash scatterings to stay afloat.
Both have also been fishing for other species but say anglers and
markets aren't as interested in halibut or cod as they would be in
salmon.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
