Bad news for the chinook salmon fisheries off the coasts of California and Oregon — again. The number of chinook salmon returning to California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin river system to spawn reached a record low last fall federal fisheries biologists reported in February.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration counted a paltry 39,530 kings in the fall run, down from 64,456 in 2008 and 87,940 in 2007, a number that led to an unprecedented shutdown of the California and Oregon fisheries in 2008.
Due to a record-low run again this year, the Pacific Fishery Management Council is expected to vote to keep the fisheries closed for the third consecutive year when it meets either this month or next. The salmon run in September and October provides 90 percent of the kings harvested in California and 60 percent of the kings harvested in Oregon.
According to biologists, salmon populations are being hit on two fronts — by water diversions for agriculture in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river system and by warmer ocean temperatures, resulting in fewer nutrients in the water.
The anticipated closure will put additional pressure on Alaska’s chinook salmon fishery this year. Last year’s tally hit 359,000 fish, down from 376,000 in 2008 and 571,000 in 2007. As a result, the average price of fresh king fillets between May and August increased from USD 6.45 a pound in 2008 to USD 9.55 in 2009. However, fresh H&G kings during the same period fell from USD 7.81 a pound in 2008 to USD 5.99 in 2009.
