Federal officials are expected to call a halt to another salmon season. This could lower the spirits for the annual Fisherman’s Festival and blessing of the fleet. It is told that the colorful boat parade, a centerpiece of the weekend, was a bit less festive this year. It is said that there would be just 16 fishing boats in the parade, amongst several others, including sail boats. Last year there were about 25 fishing boats.
By the book the two-day festival held every spring on the edge of Bodega Bay, kicks off the start of the salmon season and celebrates coastal trades and area attributes. It is informed that this is the second year commercial salmon trollers won’t be allowed to fish for the silvery chinook salmon. The federal Pacific Fishery Management Council won’t take official action until Wednesday in Millbrae, but the ban has been long expected due to dismal numbers of salmon returning last year to the Sacramento River.
Chris Lawson, president of the Fisherman’s Marketing Association of Bodega Bay, said it is known that there’s not going to be a season. The federal council, which regulates salmon fishing along the West Coast, is considering three options for salmon fishing this year, and none would allow commercial fishing off California. Both commercial fishermen and charter boat operators said the closures have caused them considerable financial pain.
Fishermen said this summer he planned to fish for albacore. Others also are fishing for slime eels or looking for other work. State and federal scientists have reported that the decline of the Sacramento salmon was caused primarily by poor ocean conditions. But fishermen and their allies have argued for more than a year that freshwater diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are largely to blame for the fishery’s woes.
