2008 California Salmon Season Cancelled--Major Bummer

In addition to $3.50 per gallon gas, and the fact that when I tow my boat behind my massively manly Toyota V6 4Runner I get about 9 miles to the gallon, here’s another damn reason why I won’t be going up north to fish for salmon later this Spring: fishing for salmon in California’s coastal waters has been cancelled this year see here.

            This is the first time in my memory when an entire salmon season in all of California’s coastal waters has been cancelled. The decision to close California’s coastal salmon fishery was made early this week and follows a federal closure of the salmon fishery that extends 200 miles from the coast, the edge of our international maritime boundary.

            A decision to close the inland Central and Northern California 2008 salmon season will not be made until early May. However the inland waters season is likely to be cancelled as well, according to reports in today’s Sacramento Bee.

            The reason for the closure is to protect remaining stocks of wild salmon that migrate up stream to their natal inland waterways to spawn and then die.

            Commercial and sport salmon fishing is a multimillion-dollar industry in California and over the last several years the number and size of salmon caught by commercial and sport fishermen alike has declined. Likewise, the number of wild Chinook (aka King) salmon counted by Fish and Game biologists, passing through fish ladders on the Sacramento River and its tributaries, has also fallen.

            As a sport fisherman who really enjoys chasing salmon off the Golden Gate, or further North off the Humboldt Coast, I have very mixed feelings about the salmon fishing closure.  On one hand, I will really miss tussling a slab sided King to the side of my boat, however, taking the pressure off the remaining salmon stocks for one or two seasons may result in my being able to catch free running wild salmon at a later date.

            I do feel sorry for members of the commercial salmon fishing fleet on the San Francisco coast. Until the albacore appear late this summer, there’s just no way they can make any money.—Jim Forbes 04/15/2008/