Monday April 21, 2025
CalTrout —
CalTrout and our partners operate sonar stations on the South Fork, Middle Fork, Van Duzen, and mainstem Eel River, which document fish as they pass through and provide adult salmon counts for most of the Eel River watershed. The closure of the state’s commercial salmon fishery is based on fish counts in the ocean, but it is difficult to know if these fish are from hatchery stocks from the Sacramento River, or from wild threatened stocks like the Eel River. These sonar stations provide crucial information on the health of the ocean fishery and how it interconnects with freshwater systems. The data from these sonar stations shows that this year’s Eel River fish returns have risen to 18,000 or more adult Chinook salmon, nearly doubled from the 2018 and 2019 spawning season numbers.
Although this is a far cry from historic abundance and the number needed to sustain an Eel River salmon run in the long term, the numbers have increased from previous years. In some other parts of the North Coast, salmon are returning in strong numbers too: Mendocino coast watersheds saw fantastic coho salmon returns and Marin County reported the strongest coho salmon run in 20 years. Both areas have been the focus of significant restoration efforts.