Latest news with #ScottArtis
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
CDFW adjusts salmon releases in Sacramento River
In a significant shift of California's salmon strategy, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has begun releasing juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon from CDFW-operated hatcheries into the main stem of the Sacramento River for the first time. The release of approximately 3.5 million fall-run Chinook salmon smolts into the main stem of the Sacramento River occurred in mid-April near Redding and Butte City. The fish originated from increased production at CDFW's hatchery operations at the Feather River Fish Hatchery and the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery. CDFW-operated salmon hatcheries historically have supported populations on their home rivers elsewhere in the Central Valley. 'We strongly support the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's bold decision to release salmon smolts directly into the main stem of the Sacramento River – a historic first that gives juvenile fish a fighting chance at survival,' said Scott Artis, executive director at Golden State Salmon Association. 'With Sacramento fall-run Chinook returns at crisis levels, and fishing families and businesses having been impacted since 2023, this innovative move is exactly the kind of action we need. We applaud the tireless hatchery staff who made this possible and stand with them in the effort to rebuild our salmon runs and revive California's commercial and recreational fisheries.' 'The naturally spawning Sacramento River salmon populations have been the primary driver of California's commercial and recreational salmon fisheries for decades,' said Jay Rowan, CDFW Fisheries branch chief. 'Poor spawning and migration conditions for fall-run Chinook during the past two droughts have resulted in low returning adult numbers the last three years. These low adult returns not only affected fishing seasons but also reduced the number of spawning adults and, consequently, the number of juvenile salmon available to take advantage of the good river conditions to rebound this part of the run. The extra effort by our hatchery staff to maximize production has allowed us to take measures this year to speed up the rebuilding of these critical Sacramento River natural spawning areas. This significant shift in strategy speaks to CDFW's long-term commitment to boosting these important salmon populations.' The 3.5 million fish being released into the main stem of the Sacramento River are part of an additional 9.7 million salmon produced in 2025 above normal production goals, funded in partnership with ocean and inland fishing groups. CDFW's hatchery operations, in coordination with the state Department of Water Resources, East Bay Municipal Utility District, and the federal Bureau of Reclamation, will raise and release more than 28 million fall-run Chinook salmon in total in 2025. CDFW's Sacramento River salmon releases are being timed with increases in water flows that have been shown to improve survival in their journey to the Pacific Ocean and also with salmon releases from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Shasta County to overwhelm predators with a massive volume of released fish. Additionally, CDFW has provided the Coleman National Fish Hatchery with 10 million salmon eggs to help meet its production goals and offset low adult salmon returns to the federal fish hatchery located on Battle Creek about 3 miles east of the Sacramento River in Anderson. The juvenile salmon released into the Sacramento River are expected to imprint on the main stem during their migration to the ocean, which in three years upon their return to freshwater is expected to increase the number of adults utilizing important natural spawning areas within the main stem.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
California releases 3.5 million salmon into Sacramento River amid population crisis
( — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife released 3.5 million juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon into the Sacramento River amid a struggle to boost the fish population. • The salmon were released into the main stem in mid-April near Redding and Butte City, according to CDFW. The fish originated from increased production at CDFW's hatchery operations at the Feather River Fish Hatchery and the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery. CDFW-operated salmon hatcheries historically have supported populations on their home rivers elsewhere in the Central Valley. 'We strongly support the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's bold decision to release salmon smolts directly into the main stem of the Sacramento River – a historic first that gives juvenile fish a fighting chance at survival,' said Scott Artis, executive director at Golden State Salmon Association. He added, 'With Sacramento fall-run Chinook returns at crisis levels, and fishing families and businesses having been impacted since 2023, this innovative move is exactly the kind of action we need.' Northern California river receives endangered salmon for first time in 80 years Last month, for the third year in a row, the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended the closure of all commercial salmon fishing in California, according to CDFW. Additionally, it recommended an extremely limited ocean sport fishing season due to the continued low abundance of salmon populations. CDFW said that while fisheries managers are seeing some positive signs for fall-run Chinook salmon in other parts of the Central Valley, due in part to increased hatchery production from state-operated hatcheries and better in-river conditions with wetter years, returns to the main stem of the Sacramento River remain at concerningly low levels. President Trump calls for infamous Alcatraz prison to be reopened in California 'The naturally spawning Sacramento River salmon populations have been the primary driver of California's commercial and recreational salmon fisheries for decades,' said Jay Rowan, CDFW Fisheries Branch Chief. 'Poor spawning and migration conditions for fall-run Chinook during the past two droughts have resulted in low returning adult numbers the last three years.' He added, 'These low adult returns not only affected fishing seasons but also reduced the number of spawning adults and, consequently, the number of juvenile salmon available to take advantage of the good river conditions to rebound this part of the run.' Sacramento River salmon releases are being timed with increases in water flows that have been shown to improve survival in their journey to the Pacific Ocean, according to CDFW. The juvenile salmon released into the Sacramento River are expected to imprint on the main stem during their migration to the ocean, which in three years upon their return to freshwater is expected to increase the number of adults utilizing important natural spawning areas within the main stem. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California commercial salmon season is shut down — again. Will the state's iconic fish ever recover?
A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS) This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Facing the continued collapse of Chinook salmon, officials today shut down California's commercial salmon fishing season for an unprecedented third year in a row. Under the decision by an interstate fisheries agency, recreational salmon fishing will be allowed in California for only brief windows of time this spring. This will be the first year that any sportfishing of Chinook has been allowed since 2022. Today's decision by the Pacific Fishery Management Council means that no salmon caught off California can be sold to retail consumers and restaurants for at least another year. In Oregon and Washington, commercial salmon fishing will remain open, although limited. 'From a salmon standpoint, it's an environmental disaster. For the fishing industry, it's a human tragedy, and it's also an economic disaster,' said Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, an industry organization that has lobbied for river restoration and improved hatchery programs. The decline of California's salmon follows decades of deteriorating conditions in the waterways where the fish spawn each year, including the Sacramento and Klamath rivers. California's salmon are an ecological icon and a valued source of food for Native American tribes. The shutdown also has an economic toll: It has already put hundreds of commercial fishers and sportfishing boat operators out of work and affected thousands of people in communities and industries reliant on processing, selling and serving locally caught salmon. California's commercial fishery has never been closed for three years in a row before. Some experts fear the conditions in California have been so poor for so long that Chinook may never rebound to fishable levels. Others remain hopeful for major recovery if the amounts of water diverted to farms and cities are reduced and wetlands kept dry by flood-control levees are restored. This year's recreational season includes several brief windows for fishing, including a weekend in June and another in July, or a quota of 7,000 fish. Jared Davis, owner and operator of the Salty Lady in Sausalito, one of dozens of party boats that take paying customers fishing, thinks it's likely that this quota will be met on the first open weekend for recreational fishing, scheduled for June 7-8. 'Obviously, the pressure is going to be intense, so everybody and their mother is going to be out on the water on those days,' he said. 'When they hit that quota, it's done.' One member of the fishery council, Corey Ridings, voted against the proposed regulations after saying she was concerned that the first weekend would overshoot the 7,000-fish quota. Davis said such a miniscule recreational season won't help boat owners like him recover from past closures, though it will carry symbolic meaning. 'It might give California anglers a glimmer of hope and keep them from selling all their rods and buying golf clubs,' he said. It continues to be devastating. Salmon has been the cornerstone of many of our ports for a long time. – Sarah Bates, commercial fisher based in San Francisco Sarah Bates, a commercial fisher based at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, said the ongoing closure has stripped many boat owners of most of their income. 'It continues to be devastating,' she said. 'Salmon has been the cornerstone of many of our ports for a long time.' She said the shutdown also has trickle-down effects on a range of businesses that support the salmon fishery, such as fuel services, grocery stores and dockside ice machines. 'We're also seeing a sort of a third wave … the general seafood market for local products has tanked,' such as rockfish and halibut. She said that many buyers are turning to farmed and wild salmon delivered from other regions instead. Davis noted that federal emergency relief funds promised for the 2023 closure still have not arrived. 'Nobody has seen a dime,' he said. Before the Gold Rush, several million Chinook spawned annually in the river systems of the Central Valley and the state's northern coast. Through much of the 20th century, California's salmon fishery formed the economic backbone of coastal fishing ports, with fishers using hook and line pulling in millions of pounds in good years. But in 2024, just 99,274 fall-run Chinook — the most commercially viable of the Central Valley's four subpopulations — returned to the Sacramento River and its tributaries, substantially lower than the numbers in 2023. In 2022, fewer than 70,000 returned, one of the lowest estimates ever. About 40,000 returned to the San Joaquin River. Fewer than 30,000 Chinook reached their spawning grounds in the Klamath River system, where the Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk tribes rely on the fish in years of abundance. The decline of California's salmon stems from nearly two centuries of damage inflicted on the rivers where salmon spend the first and final stages of their lives. Gold mining, logging and dam construction devastated watersheds. Levees constrained rivers, turning them into relatively sterile channels of fast-moving water while converting floodplains and wetlands into irrigated farmland. Today, many of these impacts persist, along with water diversions, reduced flows and elevated river temperatures that frequently spell death for fertilized eggs and juvenile fish. Peter Moyle, a UC Davis fish biologist and professor emeritus, said recovery of self-sustaining populations may be possible in some tributaries of the Sacramento River. 'There are some opportunities for at least keeping runs going in parts of the Central Valley, but getting naturally spawning fish back in large numbers, I just can't see it happening,' he said. Jacob Katz, a biologist with the group California Trout, holds out hope for a future of flourishing Sacramento River Chinook. 'We could have vibrant fall-run populations in a decade,' he said. That will require major habitat restoration involving dam removals, reconstruction of levee systems to revive wetlands and floodplains, and reduced water diversions for agriculture — all measures fraught with cost, regulatory constraints, and controversy. There are some opportunities for at least keeping (salmon) runs going in parts of the Central Valley, but getting naturally spawning fish back in large numbers, I just can't see it happening. – Peter Moyle, UC Davis fish biologist State officials, recognizing the risk of extinction, have promoted salmon recovery as a policy goal for years. In early 2024, the Newsom administration released its California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future, a 37-page catalogue of proposed actions to mitigate environmental impacts and restore flows and habitat, all in the face of climate change. California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham said the decision to allow limited recreational fishing 'brings hope. We know, however, that this news brings little relief' to the industry. He said salmon 'are still recovering from severe drought and other climate challenges and have not yet benefitted from our consecutive years of wet winters and other actions taken to boost populations.' However, Artis of Golden State Salmon Association said while the state's salmon strategy includes some important items, it leaves out equally critical steps, such as protecting minimum flows for fish. He said salmon are threatened by proposed water projects endorsed by the Newsom administration. 'It fails to include some of the upcoming salmon-killing projects that the governor is pushing like Sites Reservoir and the Delta tunnel, and it ignores the fact that the Voluntary Agreements are designed to allow massive diversions of water,' he said. Experts agree that an important key to rebuilding salmon runs is increasing the frequency and duration of shallow flooding in riverside riparian areas, or even fallow rice paddies — a program Katz has helped develop through his career. On such seasonal floodplains, a shallow layer of water can help trigger an explosion of photosynthesis and food production, ultimately providing nutrition for juvenile salmon as they migrate out of the river system each spring. Through meetings with farmers, urban water agencies and government officials, Rene Henery, California science director with Trout Unlimited, has helped draft an ambitious salmon recovery plan dubbed 'Reorienting to Recovery.' Featuring habitat restoration, carefully managed harvests and generously enhanced river flows — especially in dry years — this framework, Henery said, could rebuild diminished Central Valley Chinook runs to more than 1.6 million adult fish per year over a 20-year period. He said adversaries — often farmers and environmentalists — must shift from traditional feuds over water to more collaborative programs of restoring productive watersheds while maintaining productive agriculture. As the recovery needle for Chinook moves in the wrong direction, Katz said deliberate action is urgent. 'We're balanced on the edge of losing these populations,' he said. 'We have to go big now. We have no other option.' This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California commercial salmon season is shut down again
Fall-run Chinook salmon migrate and spawn in the Feather River near state infrastructure and the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville, on Oct. 28, 2024. (Photo by Xavier Mascareñas/ California Department of Water Resources) This story was originally published by CalMatters. Facing the continued collapse of Chinook salmon, officials this week shut down California's commercial salmon fishing season for an unprecedented third year in a row. Under the decision by an interstate fisheries agency, recreational salmon fishing will be allowed in California for only brief windows of time this spring. This will be the first year that any sportfishing of Chinook has been allowed since 2022. The decision by the Pacific Fishery Management Council means that no salmon caught off California can be sold to retail consumers and restaurants for at least another year. In Oregon and Washington, commercial salmon fishing will remain open, although limited. 'From a salmon standpoint, it's an environmental disaster. For the fishing industry, it's a human tragedy, and it's also an economic disaster,' said Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, an industry organization that has lobbied for river restoration and improved hatchery programs. The decline of California's salmon follows decades of deteriorating conditions in the waterways where the fish spawn each year, including the Sacramento and Klamath rivers. California's salmon are an ecological icon and a valued source of food for Native American tribes. The shutdown also has an economic toll: It has already put hundreds of commercial fishers and sportfishing boat operators out of work and affected thousands of people in communities and industries reliant on processing, selling and serving locally caught salmon. California's commercial fishery has never been closed for three years in a row before. Some experts fear the conditions in California have been so poor for so long that Chinook may never rebound to fishable levels. Others remain hopeful for major recovery if the amounts of water diverted to farms and cities are reduced and wetlands kept dry by flood-control levees are restored. This year's recreational season includes several brief windows for fishing, including a weekend in June and another in July, or a quota of 7,000 fish. Jared Davis, owner and operator of the Salty Lady in Sausalito, one of dozens of party boats that take paying customers fishing, thinks it's likely that this quota will be met on the first open weekend for recreational fishing, scheduled for June 7-8. 'Obviously, the pressure is going to be intense, so everybody and their mother is going to be out on the water on those days,' he said. 'When they hit that quota, it's done.' One member of the fishery council, Corey Ridings, voted against the proposed regulations after saying she was concerned that the first weekend would overshoot the 7,000-fish quota. Davis said such a miniscule recreational season won't help boat owners like him recover from past closures, though it will carry symbolic meaning. 'It might give California anglers a glimmer of hope and keep them from selling all their rods and buying golf clubs,' he said. Sarah Bates, a commercial fisher based at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, said the ongoing closure has stripped many boat owners of most of their income. 'It continues to be devastating,' she said. 'Salmon has been the cornerstone of many of our ports for a long time.' She said the shutdown also has trickle-down effects on a range of businesses that support the salmon fishery, such as fuel services, grocery stores and dockside ice machines. 'We're also seeing a sort of a third wave … the general seafood market for local products has tanked,' such as rockfish and halibut. She said that many buyers are turning to farmed and wild salmon delivered from other regions instead. Davis noted that federal emergency relief funds promised for the 2023 closure still have not arrived. 'Nobody has seen a dime,' he said. Before the Gold Rush, several million Chinook spawned annually in the river systems of the Central Valley and the state's northern coast. Through much of the 20th century, California's salmon fishery formed the economic backbone of coastal fishing ports, with fishers using hook and line pulling in millions of pounds in good years. But in 2024, just 99,274 fall-run Chinook — the most commercially viable of the Central Valley's four subpopulations — returned to the Sacramento River and its tributaries, substantially lower than the numbers in 2023. In 2022, fewer than 70,000 returned, one of the lowest estimates ever. About 40,000 returned to the San Joaquin River. Fewer than 30,000 Chinook reached their spawning grounds in the Klamath River system, where the Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk tribes rely on the fish in years of abundance. The decline of California's salmon stems from nearly two centuries of damage inflicted on the rivers where salmon spend the first and final stages of their lives. Gold mining, logging and dam construction devastated watersheds. Levees constrained rivers, turning them into relatively sterile channels of fast-moving water while converting floodplains and wetlands into irrigated farmland. Today, many of these impacts persist, along with water diversions, reduced flows and elevated river temperatures that frequently spell death for fertilized eggs and juvenile fish. Peter Moyle, a UC Davis fish biologist and professor emeritus, said recovery of self-sustaining populations may be possible in some tributaries of the Sacramento River. 'There are some opportunities for at least keeping runs going in parts of the Central Valley, but getting naturally spawning fish back in large numbers, I just can't see it happening,' he said. Jacob Katz, a biologist with the group California Trout, holds out hope for a future of flourishing Sacramento River Chinook. 'We could have vibrant fall-run populations in a decade,' he said. That will require major habitat restoration involving dam removals, reconstruction of levee systems to revive wetlands and floodplains, and reduced water diversions for agriculture — all measures fraught with cost, regulatory constraints, and controversy. State officials, recognizing the risk of extinction, have promoted salmon recovery as a policy goal for years. In early 2024, the Newsom administration released its California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future, a 37-page catalogue of proposed actions to mitigate environmental impacts and restore flows and habitat, all in the face of climate change. California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham said the decision to allow limited recreational fishing 'brings hope. We know, however, that this news brings little relief' to the industry. He said salmon 'are still recovering from severe drought and other climate challenges and have not yet benefitted from our consecutive years of wet winters and other actions taken to boost populations.' However, Artis of Golden State Salmon Association said while the state's salmon strategy includes some important items, it leaves out equally critical steps, such as protecting minimum flows for fish. He said salmon are threatened by proposed water projects endorsed by the Newsom administration. 'It fails to include some of the upcoming salmon-killing projects that the governor is pushing like Sites Reservoir and the Delta tunnel, and it ignores the fact that the Voluntary Agreements are designed to allow massive diversions of water,' he said. Experts agree that an important key to rebuilding salmon runs is increasing the frequency and duration of shallow flooding in riverside riparian areas, or even fallow rice paddies — a program Katz has helped develop through his career. On such seasonal floodplains, a shallow layer of water can help trigger an explosion of photosynthesis and food production, ultimately providing nutrition for juvenile salmon as they migrate out of the river system each spring. Through meetings with farmers, urban water agencies and government officials, Rene Henery, California science director with Trout Unlimited, has helped draft an ambitious salmon recovery plan dubbed 'Reorienting to Recovery.' Featuring habitat restoration, carefully managed harvests and generously enhanced river flows — especially in dry years — this framework, Henery said, could rebuild diminished Central Valley Chinook runs to more than 1.6 million adult fish per year over a 20-year period. He said adversaries — often farmers and environmentalists — must shift from traditional feuds over water to more collaborative programs of restoring productive watersheds while maintaining productive agriculture. As the recovery needle for Chinook moves in the wrong direction, Katz said deliberate action is urgent. 'We're balanced on the edge of losing these populations,' he said. 'We have to go big now. We have no other option.' This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Californian salmon industry suffers despite Trump promise to put ‘people over fish'
Salmon fishing in California will be off-limits for a third consecutive year in what anglers across the state are calling a 'human tragedy.' Fishing regulators voted on Tuesday to restrict this year's season to only a few days due to a dwindling number of salmon. The decision will hit commercial and recreational fishers alike. A warning came earlier in the year from the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages West Coast fisheries, that salmon fishing would be limited this year, if possible at all. This was because of the predicted low number of fall-run Chinook salmon, or king salmon, in the Sacramento River. Scott Artis, executive director of Golden State Salmon Association said: 'This closed commercial and token recreational fishing season is a human tragedy, as well as an economic and environmental disaster.' Salmon fishing, which is very popular in California, has been off limits for the past two years for all kinds of fishers due to shrinking stocks. Commercial fishers have blamed the issue on a drought a few years ago, as well as government water management polices which they say have made it harder for salmon to thrive in the waterways. Sacramento River fall-run Chinook, historically the largest contributor to the ocean salmon harvest off California and Oregon, have experienced dramatic declines over the last five years, according to the association. The Pacific Fishery Management Council has also voted to highly curtail the commercial salmon fishing season in Oregon this year, the association said. Salmon must swim upstream to lay their eggs, and young fish then make their way out to the ocean through waterways that wind through the state. That's done more easily when cool water flows are abundant. Agricultural water diversions described as excessive by anglers led to warm river temperatures and low flows when baby salmon were trying to make it from their spawning beds to the ocean. The closure comes a few months after president Donald Trump ordered officials to find ways to put 'people over fish' and route more water to farmers in California's fertile Central Valley and residents of its densely populated cities. The ongoing battle over where to route the water and how much tends to pit California environmental groups and anglers against the state's farm industry, which produces much of the country's fresh fruit, nuts and vegetables. Trump contends too much water is being used to protect the tiny delta smelt, a federally threatened species seen as an indicator of the health of the Sacramento- San Joaquin River Delta, but salmon rely on the same water for their survival. California's salmon fishing industry includes commercial fleets and charters that take anglers out for recreation. Commercial fleets have been especially hard hit by the closures. Earlier this year, there were fewer than 900 permits for commercial salmon fishing in the state compared to 1,200 in 2010, according to Dock Street Brokers. Recreational fishing charters have also been hit by the closures and have been devoting their boats to activities ranging from party tours to ash scatterings to stay afloat. Both have also been fishing for other species but say anglers and markets aren't as interested in halibut or cod as they would be in salmon.
