Saving Seafood

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

US government confirms fishery disasters took place in California salmon runs

January 6, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Commerce has determined that fishery disasters affected multiple California salmon runs, including the 2024 Sacramento River fall Chinook salmon fishery and the 2024 Klamath River fall Chinook salmon fishery.

The official determinations open up those fisheries to federal financial relief, which will be allocated to the state and Tribal governments to distribute to affected fishers and businesses.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US officials to use eDNA to test for harmful invasive species in Columbia River Basin

December 30, 2024 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) plans to use environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect invasive species that can harm native salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin, according to a solicitation posted by the agency on 16 December.

eDNA is genetic material, such as tissue cells, mucus, or urine, that is shed by an organism in its environment. After collecting water samples, scientists can conduct lab tests to detect eDNA and determine whether a species is present in a given habitat.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Canada announces plans for new British Columbia salmon hatchery

December 23, 2024 — The Canadian government has announced plans for the construction of a new Pacific Salmon hatchery in the province of British Columbia, which will be run collaboratively by the Tŝilhqot’in National Government and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

“Canada is investing today to support the conservation and restoration of vulnerable Pacific salmon populations, such as Chilcotin Chinook, for the long term,” Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Diane Lebouthillier said in a statement. “Under the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, we are partnering with Indigenous Peoples, governments, stakeholders, and communities to ensure that Pacific salmon are safeguarded for Indigenous communities and Canadians with a deep and enduring connection to these iconic fish.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

CALIFORNIA: ‘No way, not possible’: California has a plan for new water rules. Will it save salmon from extinction?

December 19, 2024 —  The Newsom administration is refining a contentious set of proposed rules, years in the making, that would reshape how farms and cities draw water from the Central Valley’s Delta and its rivers. Backed by more than $1 billion in state funds, the rules, if adopted, would require water users to help restore rivers and rebuild depleted Chinook salmon runs.

The administration touts its proposed rules as the starting point of a long-term effort to double Central Valley Chinook populations from historical levels, reaching numbers not seen in at least 75 years. But environmental groups have almost unanimously rejected it, saying it promises environmental gains that will never materialize and jeopardizes the existence of California’s iconic salmon and other fish.

“There is no way the assets they’ve put on the table, water and habitat combined, are going to achieve the doubling goal — no way, not possible,” said Jon Rosenfield, science director with San Francisco Baykeeper.

Dubbed Healthy Rivers and Landscapes but better known as “the voluntary agreements,” the proposal is one of two pathways for state officials as they update a keystone regulatory document called the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, which was last overhauled in 1995.

Read the full article at Cal Matters