September 21, 2023 — Commercial salmon fishing season has been closed in the state of California for the past several months and fishermen in Half Moon Bay are feeling the impacts.
At Half Moon Bay’s Pillar Point Harbor, it’s so quiet even the sea lions are bored.
“It’s quiet, you look at this harbor and it’s just empty, there’s no activity,” Porter McHenry, a commercial fisherman said.
McHenry says at this time of the year, from May to October, he would typically rely on salmon.
“There’s going to be nothing until crab season,” he said.
Back in March, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the drought from recent years limited salmon’s ability to breed and that there weren’t enough to open the commercial season this year.