Commercial salmon season slashed by lingering drought impacts.
California’s commercial salmon industry is being slashed this year because of lingering environmental impacts from the drought.
In a decision expected to make chinook salmon scarcer at markets and restaurants, federal fishery managers called Tuesday for sharp restrictions on commercial catches in response to low numbers of the adult fish swimming off the Pacific Coast.
“It’s a financial disaster.
This is really going to hurt people who rely on fishing for a living, both culturally and in the pocket book.” The Pacific Fishery Management Council called for sharp restrictions that limit the commercial season to August and September off the coast from Pigeon Point near San Francisco to Point Arena in Mendocino County.
This represents about half the season in normal years.
The entire commercial salmon season will be canceled this year in an area from Florence in southern Oregon to Horse Mountain south of Eureka to protect struggling Klamath River salmon, the Pacific Fishery Management Council decided.
While officially a recommendation, the advice is expected to be adopted by May 1 by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Federal fishery biologists say the restrictions are warranted because of diminished numbers of adult fish swimming off the Pacific Coast before they return through the Delta to spawn in Central Valley rivers, or return up the Klamath River to reach spawning grounds there.
Members of the federal fishery council say sharp fishing limits are necessary to protect Central Valley chinook salmon, including the endangered Sacramento River winter run salmon.

Tool for a cleaner Long Island Sound.
There are 116 rivers, estuaries, harbors, and bays along Long Island Sound, and the amount of nitrogen runoff varies enormously from one to another.
They spent four years collecting data on where the nitrogen comes from in each of the 116 estuaries, rivers, and harbors, because while people may only care a little about Long Island Sound in the abstract, they care a lot about their own specific place.
"[The model] is a tool for citizens and managers to explore the impact of different actions," says Vaudrey, an assistant research professor in marine sciences.
There’s also a page called ‘interesting results’ that shows the 27 places with the highest load of nitrogen per water area.
With this information, decision-makers can identify the most significant sources of nitrogen pollution and use proven solutions — such as upgrading and modernizing septic systems or reducing fertilizer use — to sustain clean water," says Holly Drinkuth, director of outreach and watershed projects at The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut.
Vaudrey hopes to work with organizations adept at outreach, such as The Nature Conservancy, Save the Sound, and the Long Island Sound Study, to better inform management decisions at the local level.
She is also starting work on a second model, one that looks at what happens in the coastal waters once nitrogen is introduced.
"Tool for a cleaner Long Island Sound: Model could help citizens manage nitrogen pollution in their local waterways."
"Tool for a cleaner Long Island Sound: Model could help citizens manage nitrogen pollution in their local waterways."