It is being considered during a very low run.
Salmon fishing ban mulled in California as run suffers record plunge
By Matt Weiser - mweiser@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, March 10, 2008
J.D. Richey caught his first salmon in the American River as a seventh-grader. It was just over 13 pounds, hooked on a spinning lure from a canoe downstream of the Howe Avenue bridge.
The experience so impressed him that he became a fishing guide. Now, after 10 years helping clients from all over the world catch Central Valley salmon, 2008 could be Richey's final season.
A near-record-low fall chinook spawning run in 2007 has regulators considering an all-out ban on salmon fishing in California this year. It would protect surviving fish, but for Richey and others whose lives are tied to salmon, the future looks dim.
"Sacramento is pretty unique in that we've had world-class numbers of salmon coming through a major metropolitan area," said Richey, 39, who was born and raised in the city. "Sacramento has had more salmon than lots of Alaskan rivers. We took our bounty for granted."
The Central Valley fall chinook run is the mainstay of commercial and recreational salmon fishing on the California and Oregon coasts, worth $103 million annually. This does not include dollars generated by inland fishing on rivers.
After 15 years of historically robust returns, the 2007 fall run saw a plunge to near-record lows – surprising regulators who expected an average year.
Biologists aren't certain what caused the plunge. But they suspect poor ocean conditions.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has measured ocean food productivity since 1975, both near California and in the larger Pacific Ocean.
In 2005, for the first time in that data-keeping record, California productivity failed to follow the larger ocean. Food declined in the ocean near California, while increasing elsewhere.
Young salmon entering the ocean from their California spawning rivers may not have found enough to eat. Because salmon return to their home rivers after two to four years at sea, last year's poor run may be just the first proof of this theory. Fall 2008 may be worse.
"It's going to be a hard year for the fishermen," said Peter Dygert, a biologist at the fisheries service. "The circumstances this year for Sacramento fall chinook in particular – but for some other stocks too – are pretty bad. I don't recall a time when fisheries have been so constrained."
