May 19, 2026 — California’s commercial salmon fishery is open for the first time in three years. David Toriumi owns a boat out of the Santa Cruz Harbor and spoke to KAZU while trying to get a long metal pole ready to go back onto his boat.
“ The weather was so rough out there that it actually ripped it off of my boat,” he said.
Gale force winds and rough waves have forced boats to come in early in the day, but Toriumi says the catch has been about as expected.
A few docks away, H&H Fresh Fish has locally caught salmon at the retail counter for the first time in three years. Co-owner Hans Haveman says the first few days of the season were uncertain.