West Coast fishery managers decided to severely restrict the commercial salmon season in California this year because of historically low numbers of adult chinook salmon in the ocean, says the San Francisco Chronicle. The drop in population is a lingering effect of the five-year drought.
The restrictions were expected by the fishing industry, which saw a short season in 2016 too. “In 2014 and 2015, baby and juvenile salmon died off by the millions because of warm water temperatures in their spawning grounds, and the adults in the ocean now are from that generation,” said the Chronicle. Population forecasts are a quarter of the level seen in a good year.
“When populations are healthier, chinook salmon can be one of the most lucrative fisheries in the region, worth $22.7 million in California in 2013,” said the newspaper. Some fishing-boat operators said they will move up the coast to Oregon, where there is an early season for salmon.