Monday March 13, 2023
CBS Bay Area —
Even with so much recent rain, California’s drought is still having a devastating impact on the salmon fishing industry. So few fish have been found that the state has now issued a ban on salmon fishing along the entire coast.
Thanks to all the atmospheric river storms, rivers on land are roaring but the effects of years of drought are only now being seen on the salmon population. Last year, 196,000 adult fish were expected to return to the Sacramento River to spawn but only 60,000 showed up.
“We also know that the number of young salmon in 2022 was a really low number. That’s the number they use to forecast the abundance of adult salmon in the ocean this year,” said John McManus, president of the Golden State Salmon Association.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife has canceled the entire salmon fishing season along the California coast. It’s only the second time in history that has happened. The last time was in 2008-2009 after another period of prolonged drought.