Wednesday February 26, 2025
Seafood Source —
Fall Chinook salmon runs in 2024 in the Sacramento River and Klamath River watersheds in the U.S. state of California were far smaller than expected, according to new data from the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC).
Regulators forecast a fall run of more than 180,000 adult chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento River Basin in 2024, but the PFMC’s recently published review of West Coast fisheries estimated a run of fewer than 100,000 fish.
The Klamath River fall run also underperformed the pre-season forecast. According to the PFMC estimate, only 36,568 adult fall chinook returned to the Klamath River in 2024 compared to a prediction of 65,138 adults.
California salmon runs have been impacted by several environmental and climate-related challenges.
“A host of factors have pushed these iconic and important fisheries to the point of collapse, including prolonged and historic drought, severe wildfires, impacts to spawning and rearing habitat, harmful algal blooms, and ocean forage shifts and associated thiamine deficiency,” California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis stated in a request for federal fishery disaster funding last year. “Extreme climate disruption is compounding these factors and is now testing the resiliency of our salmon.”