Tag Archives: John McManus
Cancelation of California salmon season forces fishermen to find new way forward
Salmon fishers across the state are pivoting to stay afloat after the salmon fishing season was canceled earlier this year. At dock 47 in San Francisco, the pier looks different this time of year. More boats are tied up, an unusual sight for what would be peak salmon season. Matt Juanes is preparing to head out to sea. He readies his lines and hopes for a big catch. For now, it’s all he can do. “My goal is to catch every last one of them,” he said aboard his boat Plumeria. But this year, the salmon fisher of 8 years is exploring uncharted territory for him. He’s now looking to catch shrimp and halibut after salmon season was canceled for repopulation efforts. Video, >click to read< 09:03
California’s Salmon Fishers Are Facing a Summer Without Salmon. Will They Get Federal Help?
On another day, Matt Juanes would have set out on the water long before sunrise. Juanes, an experienced salmon and crab fisherman who has worked out of Fisherman’s Wharf for over five years, is no stranger to the trade. Today, though, he would be chasing an unfamiliar catch for the first time: coonstripe shrimp. Juanes is one of hundreds of commercial fishers who dock along the Golden State coast and who would normally be out hunting mighty chinook or “king” salmon — the mainstay of California’s commercial salmon fishing industry. The first months of summer are typically a premier time for both salmon and salmon fishers. But this summer, California’s salmon fishing season is completely shut down for the first time in over a decade. Photos, >click to read< 09:40
‘Disaster of a season for us’: Cancellation ripples through California salmon fishery
California’s salmon fishermen are seeking federal disaster aid after getting the word that the 2023 commercial and recreational salmon season has been canceled. It comes as projections show record-low salmon stocks, and regulators say the closure is needed to ensure maintenance of a healthy salmon population. Much of the fishing in Oregon has also been canceled. “It’s obviously a disaster of a season for us,” said Tim Obert of Ben Lomond, who has been fishing salmon commercially for close to two decades. “It takes our living away.” >click to read< 17:28
State, federal officials vow to take quick action on Federal Fishery Disaster Declaration for salmon fishing industry
State and federal officials are vowing to move quickly to secure disaster aid for Californians affected by the closure of this year’s commercial and recreational salmon season, which could have an economic impact of $1.4 billion, according to one industry group. The administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom requested a Federal Fishery Disaster Declaration from U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo after a decision Thursday by the Pacific Fishery Management Council to recommend full closure of both commercial and recreational salmon seasons this year. It’s unclear what that might mean in terms of total dollars and eligible stakeholders. >click to read< 08:03
Poor outlook for king salmon could shut down California’s sport and commercial seasons
This year’s official “forecast abundance” estimates that just 169,767 adult chinook salmon are waiting off shore to be caught — a substantial decrease from the 396,458 predicted last year and forecasts above 800,000 a decade ago. A nearly 2-month delay in the Dungeness crab season this year meant commercial crabbers missed the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays and then had a glut of fresh crab available when the market was weak, said veteran fisherman Dick Ogg, vice president of the Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Marketing Association, which represents the local commercial fleet. Though Ogg participates in a variety of fisheries, many locals only do salmon, crab or both. “For the guys that only have salmon as a potential income, it’s going to be devastating,” he said, “and for the guys who have salmon and crab, and who have had a minimal crab season, it’s going to be devastating.” >click to read< 09:05
Warming rivers in US West killing fish, imperiling industry
Salmon fisherman Mike Hudson sits on the bow of his boat at the Berkeley, Calif., Marina on Thursday, July 22, 2021. Baby salmon are dying by the thousands in one river and an entire run of endangered salmon could be wiped out in another. The plummeting catch has led to skyrocketing retail prices for salmon, hurting customers who say they can no longer afford the $35 per pound of fish, said Hudson, who has spent the last 25 years catching and selling salmon at farmers’ markets in Berkeley. “An extreme set of cascading climate events is pushing us into this crisis situation,” said Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Wildlife and Fish. 14 photos, >click to read< 10:03
Balance The Pain Of Drought On Farmers And Fishermen Equitably
In the first week of May a young salmon boat captain struggled to keep his boat stable and fishing while getting bashed by an unruly spring wind storm near the San Mateo-Santa Cruz county line. Far offshore, where the continental shelf drops off and a huge volume of marine nutrients circulate from the ocean bottom to the surface, salmon gathered. So did borderline gale force winds on top of a 10-foot swell. It looked like the scene at the end of the movie, “The Perfect Storm.” You’re risking life and limb fishing in those conditions, and you wouldn’t in more normal times. But these aren’t normal times. >click to read< 11:08
Stop efforts to kill salmon and fishing jobs
Today, many Northern California commercial fishermen sit in harbors along our coast worrying about their bills and waiting for another disastrously shortened salmon season to begin. Many businesses that serve the normally robust sport salmon fishery also have suffered because of the delay. River fishing guides have lost half their season as well. Salmon numbers are predicted to be down from the lingering effects of the last drought and the damaging water allocation decisions that put salmon fishing families last. Meanwhile, San Joaquin Valley congressmen are hard at work tilting the balance of water in California toward valley agricultural barons. >click to read<10:48
California’s Salmon Industry Set to Take Another Hit
Fisheries managers will impose the toughest restrictions on California’s salmon harvest in nearly a decade, hobbling the billion-dollar industry that depends on it. This year’s fall salmon run is estimated to be only a quarter of normal on California’s Sacramento River, due mostly to drought conditions and warmer ocean temperatures. As a result, officials at the Pacific Fishery Management Council last week moved to cut the commercial season by as much as a third of its standard length. >click to read< 10:42
