Saving Seafood

ALASKA: State anticipates status quo for 2024 Kuskokwim River salmon runs

April 20, 2024 — With another heavily restricted salmon fishing season just around the corner on the Kuskokwim River, state fisheries managers are not anticipating any drastic changes in terms of run strength from what was seen last year.

According to Chuck Brazil, a regional fisheries management coordinator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who oversees the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) region, the forecast for chinook (king) salmon is in line with returns over the past decade.

“We’re looking at a near-recent average, which is about 120,000 to 140,000 fish,” Brazil said. “I would expect this upcoming season to look very similar to last season with limited openings, maybe one opening a week throughout the course of this chinook salmon season.”

The federal government, rather than the state, currently has the final say regarding when salmon fishing is allowed on the lower Kuskokwim River. This was confirmed by a recent U.S. District Court ruling in a case which calls into question management of the 180-mile portion of the river that flows through the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: Residents speak on chinook moratorium at Yukon River Panel

April 16, 2024 — The Yukon River Panel, a joint Alaska-Canada salmon advisory organization held a multi-day pre-season meeting last week in Anchorage. Panel members heard presentations and public comments on a range of salmon issues, including a recent Alaska Canada agreement to close chinook salmon fishing for 7 years.

Wednesday’s agenda (April 10) included presentations by biologists on 2024 salmon run forecasts. Deena Jallen with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said another weak return of Yukon River Chinook is anticipated.

“We have a forecast of 45,000 to 68,000 fish, with a median value of 56,000 fish, and as a reminder the 2023 drainage-wide run size for chinook salmon was 58,000 fish, and no escapement goals were met in Alaska or Canada, so we’re anticipating a very low run, similar to last year, or smaller,” Jallen said.

About 40 percent of Yukon River chinook are Canadian origin, and Jallen said the outlook for those stocks is similarly bleak.

“Nineteen thousand to 28,000 fish with median value of 23,000 fish,” she said. “And that’s below the border passage objective of 71,000 fish, and the projected border passage could be as low as 9- to 19,000 fish.”

Read the full article at KYUK

CALIFRONIA: California fishermen urge action after salmon fishing is canceled for second year in a row

April 14, 2024 — California fishermen have spoken out against state water management policies after federal fishing officials canceled ocean salmon fishing season in the state for the second consecutive year, delivering a major blow to the fishing industry.

In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council − which is responsible for managing fisheries in federal waters along the West Coast − recommended closing all California commercial and recreational ocean salmon fisheries through the end of the year. Similar to last year’s recommendations, the council said this year’s closure will help conservation goals for salmon stocks.

“The forecasts for Chinook returning to California rivers this year are again very low,” council chair Brad Pettinger said in a statement Wednesday. “Despite improved drought conditions, the freshwater environment that contributed to these low forecasted returns may still be impacting the overall returns of Chinook.”

Read the full article at USA Today

CALIFORNIA: Newsom requests federal disaster funds as chinook salmon season faces likely closure

April 14, 2024 — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Thursday he was requesting a federal fishery disaster declaration, after regional supervisors recommended a full closure of ocean salmon season for the second year in a row.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council — which oversees fishing along the Washington, Oregon and California coasts — voiced unanimous support on Wednesday for shuttering California’s commercial and recreational chinook salmon fisheries through the end of the year.

These recommendations are similar to those made in 2023, which was the first time such a closure occurred in 14 years.

“The forecasts for chinook returning to California rivers this year are again very low,” council Chair Brad Pettinger said in a Wednesday statement.

Read the full article at the Hill

California salmon fishing banned for second year in row

April 11, 2024 — In a devastating blow to California’s fishing industry, federal fishery managers unanimously voted today to cancel all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California for the second year in a row.

The decision is designed to protect California’s dwindling salmon populations after drought and water diversions left river flows too warm and sluggish for the state’s iconic Chinook salmon to thrive.

Salmon abundance forecasts for the year “are just too low,” Marci Yaremko, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s appointee to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, said last week. “While the rainfall and the snowpacks have improved, the stocks and their habitats just need another year to recover.”

State and federal agencies are now expected to implement the closures for ocean fishing. Had the season not been in question again this year, recreational boats would likely already be fishing off the coast of California, while the commercial season typically runs from May through October.

Read the full article at CalMatters

OREGON: Fish out of water story ends with 77,000 young salmon in the wrong water

April 4, 2024 — First, the good news. When a 53-foot fish tanker truck crashed and rolled upside down on an embankment next to a creek in northeast Oregon, its driver suffered only minor injuries. And as the truck came to a rest, its tank settled downhill, next to the water.

That last detail was crucial for the truck’s cargo: some 102,000 spring Chinook smolts, or young salmon, that had been raised in a hatchery. The truck overturned on a twisting road that mirrors Lookingglass Creek — and some 77,000 fish made it from the tanker into the creek’s fresh, inviting water, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

But there is also bad news: 25,529 smolts died, recovered from the tanker and the bank of the creek. And the fish that survived are now living in the wrong waterway.

The fish had been raised at Lookingglass Hatchery to give a population boost to wild salmon in the Imnaha River, around 90 miles to the east.

Read the full article at NPR

Toxic Dust Threatens California Salmon Population, Lawmaker Seeks Solution

April 2, 2024 — For the first time in more than three decades of fishing for salmon near Bodega Bay, Dick Ogg will motor his white and navy boat, Karen Jeanne, north this summer past his typical fisheries in hopes of finding the multicolored species along the Oregon coast.

There aren’t enough salmon left off the California coast for Ogg to sell on Bodega Bay’s historic docks.

Fishery managers are signaling they may cancel California’s commercial salmon season for the second year in a row, which means the 71-year-old has two options: temporarily traveling to Oregon to catch salmon or barely making ends meet luring in rockfish and sablefish.

Ogg, often in a gray hoodie and wiry sunglasses, wishes there was a solution for boosting California’s salmon schools. He describes the species as “having one of the greatest spirits” an ocean-fairing creature can have.

“They can take a hook and bend it straight to get away,” he said, remembering countless salmon that escaped. “Maybe that’s what they were supposed to do, having the chance to go up the river to spawn.”

Read the full article at KQED

California ocean salmon season options revealed by council

March 15, 2024 — The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) has produced three options for ocean salmon seasons beginning May 16, 2024. Two of the three alternatives would authorize short ocean salmon season dates and establish small harvest limits for commercial and sport fishing off California in 2024. The third alternative would be to close the ocean fisheries off California for a second consecutive year. The alternatives were approved by the PFMC for public review on Monday.

In response to several years of drought over the past decade, key California salmon target stocks are forecast to have 2024 abundance levels that, while higher than last year, are well below average. The 2024 stock abundance forecast for Sacramento River Fall Chinook, often the most abundant in the ocean fishery, is 213,600 adults. Meanwhile, abundance of Klamath River Fall Chinook is forecast at 180,700 adults. At this level of abundance, the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan authorizes only low levels of fishing on these stocks. It requires management to be designed to allow most of the adult population to return to the river to spawn.

Read the full article at The National Fisherman

CALIFORNIA: California Salmon Season to Be Restricted or Shut Down — Again

March 12, 2024 — California’s fishing industry is bracing for another bad year as federal managers announced Monday plans to heavily restrict or prohibit salmon fishing again after canceling the entire season last year.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Monday released a series of options that are under consideration, all of which either ban commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the ocean off California or shorten the season and set strict catch limits. The council’s decision is expected next month; the commercial season typically begins in May and ends in October.

While more Chinook salmon returned from the ocean to spawn last year than in 2022, fishery managers said the population is expected to be so small that they must be protected this year to avoid overfishing.

Fall-run Chinook salmon are a mainstay of commercial and recreational fishing and tribal food supplies. But their populations are now a fraction of what they once were — dams have blocked vital habitat, while droughts and water diversions have driven down flows and increased temperatures, killing large numbers of salmon eggs and young fish.

The plan is a devastating blow for an industry still reeling from last year’s closure. State officials estimate that last year’s closure cost about $45 million — which the fishing industry says vastly underestimates the actual toll.

Read the full article at KQED