Salmon season closure paints bleak picture for Northstate fisherman

REDDING, Calif. — The Pacific Fishery Management Council announcedon Thursday a complete closure of commercial chinook fishing in 2023 for California and much of Oregon.

This decision is rooted in particularly low salmon populations that are approaching record lows. The three-year drought that has largely been wiped out this winter is responsible for the low populations, as salmon typically spend three years in the Pacific Ocean before returning to freshwater habitats to lay eggs. With such drastic action taken, many commercial fishermen face a bleak season.

“This is gonna cost me probably $25,000 this year, [in] impact. I mean I’ve already rented a house for the summer, that was ten grand. And I had bookings, I got to cancel them all now. It really sucks. They did this, and we had no idea that they were gonna do this. They never let any indication that there was gonna be, perhaps, a closure," explained Jeff Smith, a commercial fisherman.

As for his bookings, he said maybe he could convince clients to go for halibut instead, but he knows that the appeal of catching a 50-pound fish is what makes chinook such a big draw.

Some have described optimism that as painful as this decision is for their livelihoods, it will be worth it if it would help preserve future salmon availability. I asked Jeff if he felt like the closure would accomplish that.

"It's a band-aid. They mismanaged the water, and Mother Nature wasn't very kind to us. But three years from now, we'll know; that's when the salmon come back. I don't think it's gonna help. They keep adding more and more hatchery fish to the ecosystem, and it's not giving the wild fish a chance, and its a joke."

Commercial salmon fishing will continue as normal in Washington, but the closure for Oregon and California puts many in a difficult position.