One day after the commercial salmon fishing season was cancelled, Sarah Bates boards her boat the Bounty, Thursday, April 11, 2024, at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, Calif. In a major setback for California’s beleaguered fishing industry and the latest reminder of the state’s long-running battles over water supplies, particularly during drought years, all commercial and recreational salmon fishing will be prohibited off the California coast this year for the second year in a row.
“State and federal water managers are devastating our rivers,” he added. “They are removing vast amounts of water and creating lethally high temperatures in those rivers that are destroying salmon. If you kill all the baby salmon through California water policy, then two or three years later you aren’t going to have adults returning, or very few. This is the governor’s legacy.”
The news comes the same week that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife closed the commercial Dungeness crab season early this year, allowing it to be open for only three months, to protect humpback whales from becoming entangled in trap and buoy lines. Salmon populations generally tend to rise and fall based on whether the state is in a drought or not.
In January, Newsom visited salmon restoration sites in Humboldt County, and announced a plan aimed at restoring populations of the iconic fish.