Saving Seafood

ALASKA: State imposes ‘unprecedented’ conservation measures for Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon

April 1, 2025 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is imposing what it calls “unprecedented” conservation measures to address declines of Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon — also known as king salmon — which is currently under review for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The department said in a March 18 announcement that it will be restricting western Alaska king salmon fisheries, including in Kodiak, Chignik and Sand Point.

Matt Keyse, an area management biologist at fish and game’s Sand Point office, said this is the first time the department has used data from one region to trigger management action in another.

“That is unprecedented from managing a fishery based on fish that are not found locally to the systems in the area in which we’re harvesting fish,” Keyse said.

Sand Point — off the Alaska Peninsula — is in the middle of the management region known as Area M. Although it doesn’t have its own king runs, fishermen intercept salmon that migrate through the region. In recent years, Area M’s harvest levels have drawn criticism from stakeholders in Western Alaska, who argue the fishery reduces local salmon returns.

Read the full article at KYUK

CALIFORNIA: Small bugs in California rice fields are making a huge impact for salmon

March 21, 2025 — Every morning is an early morning for scientists working the flood plains of the Sacramento Valley.

“Putting a cold pair of wet waders first thing in the morning — always the most pleasant, but that’s what the hot cup of coffee is for,” said Jacob Montgomery.

Montgomery and his crew from California Trout head out along Yolo County’s stretch of the Sacramento River. They stop along the levee to spot where four cages float in the water.

“There is a little shelf here,” Montgomery said. “We just pull all the cages in at once.”

Inside the cages are baby salmon.

“Inside each enclosure are five juvenile Chinook Salmon from the Coleman Natural Fishery,” he said.

This is part of the crew’s weekly check-up on the salmon. The fish are measured and weighed.

For decades, the number of salmon in the river has sharply dropped, but now scientists believe they just might have a solution and it comes from the unlikeliest of places.

Read the full article at KCRA

CALIFORNIA: California salmon season faces potential third-year closure

March 11, 2025 — California’s Chinook salmon population continues to decline, prompting concerns over a possible third consecutive closure of the state’s commercial and recreational salmon fishing season.

In April, the Pacific Fishery Management Council will decide whether to impose a limited fishing season or enforce a complete shutdown to facilitate stock recovery.

Recent estimates from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife indicate approximately 166,000 Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon currently in the ocean, a decrease from the preseason estimate of 214,000 last year and comparable to the 2023 estimate of 169,000. These numbers reflect a significant drop from the robust salmon population observed in California’s river over a decade ago.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Conservation groups sue NOAA Fisheries over protection for Pacific Northwest spring-run Chinook salmon

February 27, 2025 — Conservation groups are suing NOAA Fisheries after the agency missed the one-year deadline for ruling on a petition seeking Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for spring-run Chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

“These iconic fish are at risk of disappearing from our coastal rivers forever if [NOAA Fisheries] doesn’t act quickly,” Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) Legal Fellow Jeremiah Scanlan said in a statement. “Spring-run Chinook salmon badly need protections, but instead, the agency has taken the lazy river approach and drifted past its own deadlines.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

CALIFORNIA: California’s 2024 fall Chinook runs worse than expected

February 25, 2025 — Fall Chinook salmon runs in 2024 in the Sacramento River and Klamath River watersheds in the U.S. state of California were far smaller than expected, according to new data from the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC).

Regulators forecast a fall run of more than 180,000 adult chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento River Basin in 2024, but the PFMC’s recently published review of West Coast fisheries estimated a run of fewer than 100,000 fish.

The Klamath River fall run also underperformed the pre-season forecast. According to the PFMC estimate, only 36,568 adult fall chinook returned to the Klamath River in 2024 compared to a prediction of 65,138 adults.

California salmon runs have been impacted by several environmental and climate-related challenges.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

CALIFORNIA: A ‘perfect storm’ of environmental and political issues is driving Santa Cruz fishers out of the water

February 20, 2025 — Would Santa Cruz still be Santa Cruz without a fishing industry? After nine rocky years of delayed, shortened and outright canceled fishing seasons, the coastal community could soon have to face a cultural reckoning as the number of commercial fishing boats active in the Santa Cruz Harbor dwindles to fewer than 20.

For generations, fishers along California’s Central Coast have relied on two primary catches to make their living: Dungeness crab in the winter and Chinook salmon in the summer.

But over the past nine years, this traditional rhythm has been disrupted by a cascade of environmental challenges. Migrating whales are lingering in crabbing areas longer, contributing to delayed seasons and reduced catch limits, while droughts and fluctuating river levels have decimated salmon populations.

The impact on Santa Cruz County’s commercial fishers has been profound. The state’s salmon fishery has been closed since 2023, with little sign of recovery, while the crab season has been shortened and restricted for the past six years.

Read the full article at Lookout Santa Cruz

Conservationists sue feds to protect Pacific Northwest salmon populations

February 19, 2025 — Conservation groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday morning against the National Marine Fisheries Service for missing its deadline to determine if spring-run Chinook salmon in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act. The organizations behind the lawsuit seek a court order to compel the Fisheries Service to issue a finding within a suitable time frame.

“These iconic fish are at risk of disappearing from our coastal rivers forever if the Service doesn’t act quickly,” Jeremiah Scanlan, a legal fellow at the Center for Biological Diversity, said. “Spring-run Chinook salmon badly need protections, but instead, the agency has taken the lazy river approach and drifted past its own deadlines.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, Native Fish Society, Umpqua Watersheds, and Pacific Rivers claim the Fisheries Service violated federal law when it failed to issue a timely finding within 12 months of their petition asking for three Chinook salmon populations to be listed as “threatened” or “endangered” — the Oregon Coast Chinook salmon, the Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal Chinook salmon, and the Washington Coast spring-run Chinook salmon.

“The agency’s failure to meet the deadlines delays crucial, lifesaving protections for these species, increasing their risk of extinction,” the groups said in their lawsuit.

Chinook salmon, also known as “king salmon,” are the largest of all Pacific salmon species. Although the fish were once abundant in the river basins of the Pacific Northwest, their populations have declined sharply in recent years and are now only a fraction of their historical size.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

Wild Fish Conservancy to sue NOAA over missed deadlines for potential Chinook salmon protections

February 12, 2025 — Conservation advocacy group Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) plans to sue NOAA Fisheries after the agency missed deadlines for responding to its petition seeking Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for Chinook salmon in Alaska.

WFC announced in January 2024 that it was petitioning the government to implement protections for the species due to “the severe decline and poor condition of Chinook populations” in Alaska. WFC listed several factors contributing to the fish population’s drastic decline, including mixed-stock commercial and sport fishing, bycatch from industrial trawlers, climate change, logging and mining operations, and competition from hatchery-raised fish.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Biologists predict strong area sockeye, pink, chum runs; low Chinook returns

February 4, 2025 — Fisheries officials are predicting a mixed bag of salmon returns in the Copper River and Prince William Sound this year.

State biologists are forecasting strong runs of sockeye salmon into the Copper River and pink and chum salmon in Prince William Sound, but a weak run of wild Chinooks into the Copper River.

The forecasts – released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on Jan. 23 – calculated total runs for Copper River sockeye and Chinook salmon, Gulkana hatchery sockeye salmon, Coghill Lake sockeye salmon, and wild Prince William Sound pink and chum salmon.

For the Copper River, the forecast is for a range of 2.2 million to 2.9 million red salmon, which would be 55% above the 10-year average of 1.6 million fish. The Copper River Chinook run is forecast at 25,000 to 51,000 kings – or 25% below the 10-year total run average of 48,000 fish.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

ALASKA: Alaska hatchery operators warn against proposed 25 percent cut in egg take

January 10, 2025 — The operators of salmon hatcheries in Southeast Alaska are warning that a proposed 25 percent reduction in the egg take of pink and chum salmon would have devastating consequences for the hatcheries, leading to job losses and the eventual closure of facilities.

Conservation groups have argued that the release of hatchery-raised salmon harms wild populations for decades. The backers of the proposal – Proposal 156 – claim that salmon hatcheries are one of the five biggest threats to the state’s wild Chinook populations, along with climate change, bycatch, intercept, and disease. However, advocates of ending or curtailing hatchery operations have struggled to convince state regulators to turn against the practice.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource