Thursday April 17, 2025
Oregon Capital Chronicle —
For the seventh time in less than a decade, Oregon’s commercial fishermen, governor and congressional delegation are asking for federal aid to soften the blow of climate change on the state’s ocean salmon fisheries.
In January, members of the Oregon Salmon Commission asked Gov. Tina Kotek to request a federal fishery resource disaster declaration from the U.S. Department of Commerce, over Oregon’s poor 2024 coastal Chinook salmon season — the seventh disaster-worthy season since 2016.
“The impacts of drought, wildfires, changing ocean conditions and loss of freshwater habitat for salmon spawning, rearing and migration have all deeply impacted the health of our salmon populations,” Jeff Reeves, chairman of the Oregon Salmon Commission, said in his letter to the governor.
The commission is an industry-funded group that’s legally part of the Oregon Department of Agriculture and represents Oregon’s commercial salmon fishermen.