West Coast fishermen, other stakeholders grapple with salmon season closure

EUREKA, Calif. — Salmon anglers and environmental conservationists alike are working to restore the west coast salmon population in light of salmon season being officially cancelled last week.

According to Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) Executive Director Glen Spain, the consequences that led to salmon season being cancelled this year will likely affect the next few season as well.

This is because there is a three-year period of time between when a salmon is born and when it makes it out to the ocean; but over this past three-year period, multiple water policies led to even lower water levels in California rivers, which lower and warmer than usual due to the drought in the state.

This caused many salmon to die in the rivers before they could even begin their journeys to the ocean.

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"They cooked, basically," Spain said. "So what happens is then very few of them reached the river, and very few of them reached the ocean, and so there are too few coming back now to replace this generation."

Spain said the estimated economic loss along the west coast is in the ballpark of $100-200 million.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council officially closed the fishery last week in anticipation of this loss and of multiple years without any salmon fishing in California and Oregon.

That same day last week, California Governor Newsom requested a fishery disaster declaration, which could help preserve the fishery for the next generation of salmon. But, of course, this would only matter if enough of the next generation of salmon survive and make it to the ocean themselves.

In order to ensure the salmon do survive so that there is a future for salmon fishing on the west coast, Spain said the water policies that ultimately killed many salmon in the first place will need to be reversed.