CalMatters: Salmon fishing shutdown marks a grim milestone. Why California shouldn’t give up hope

By Charlton H. Bonham, Special for CalMatters

This week, a public federal process determined there will be no commercial salmon fishing off California’s coast for the third year in a row. It’s a grim milestone for our state. 

While we will see some recreational ocean fishing, we’re at the low-water mark. With so few fish available, we know this won’t be enough to meet the demand of our state. That’s hard news in hard times.

Thirty years ago, the idea we would be implementing — yet alone discussing — these restrictions would have been unthinkable. Back then, millions of salmon swam through the rivers of California every year. It was a bountiful, thriving species.

But last year, the number of adult salmon in the Sacramento Index, a critical measure of the Sacramento River salmon population and an indicator of the overall health of California’s salmon, shrunk to roughly 100,000 fish. It’s a tiny fraction of salmon’s former might.

The reasons for the decline are numerous and complicated. Decades of severe drought, climate disruption, water management challenges and habitat loss threaten the future of salmon in California. The loss of salmon would wound California deeply.

Salmon are the basis of a multibillion-dollar fishing economy that creates jobs across the state. They support thriving forests, rivers and floodplains, and serve as one of the most popular seafood choices across the country. Salmon provide vital subsistence to numerous California Tribes. Recreational salmon fishing trips form the basis of family legend and lore.

For the salmon lovers among us, these are dark times. But I see glimmers of hope.

Two weeks ago, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife revealed the progress on California’s “Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future.” It was an update on the strategy Gov. Gavin Newsom released last year, which outlined dozens of key action items the state must take to better support healthy salmon populations.

In the last year alone, state fish and wildlife and its partner agencies have made critical headway on nearly 70% of the action items set by Gov. Newsom. Another 26% are already done.

California finished removing the outdated and obsolete Klamath River dams, allowing for a free-flowing river and access to cold-water habitats blocked for more than a century.

California’s initiative to fast-track approvals for salmon restoration projects led to the streamlining of more than 60 important projects to support salmon populations over the past year.

Fish and wildlife has also worked with the State Water Resources Control Board to develop flow recommendations in drought-prone watersheds like the Scott and Shasta rivers and Mill and Deer creeks, ensuring salmon populations have enough cold water to survive during dry periods.

Investments to expand and modernize the state’s fish hatcheries, ensuring California is supporting the production of a resilient salmon population, have increased fall run production from state-operated hatcheries in the Central Valley by over 9.7 million fish.

The state’s salmon strategy was designed for long-term salmon support. But we’re already seeing early benefits, some that even surprised fish and wildlife officials. Ten days after the final Klamath dam came down, state scientists spotted salmon swimming north of the dam sites into Oregon.

Experts originally estimated that would take 10 years.

Data shows that, while salmon numbers from 2024 are down, California saw the highest number of jacks (2-year-old fish) returning to the Central Valley since 2019. Jacks are an important predictor of the number of adult salmon that will return to spawn the following year.

In Lagunitas Creek, there’s been a 60% increase in spawning of endangered Coho salmon. In Mendocino County, adult coho returns have almost quadrupled their 15-year average.

To be clear, these wins are just the beginning. The road to reviving California salmon will be long. But these successes give me hope and the drive to keep fighting for salmon.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

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