It is fact that for the past two years, there has been no salmon fishing due to greatly reduced stocks. This year the authority has allowed fishing for limited period which will do little or nothing to revive the fortunes of the commercial fleet and the myriad businesses that depend indirectly on salmon.
Experts said that the absence of salmon also affects our harbor district and other harbor administrations, which collected significant revenues from salmon-related businesses when the fishery was flourishing. The main reason behind such collapse of salmon fishery is human mismanagement of water.
The authority has allowed unrestrained and irresponsible pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and ignoring the established science on the biological requirements of anadromous fish. It is true that the salmon season closures affected the San Mateo County Harbor District very badly. It has been a disaster — literally. The authority had to apply for Federal Disaster Relief funds to mitigate for the loss of fishing.
Other harbors along the California coast have experienced similar downturns. The Port of Santa Cruz, for example, typically posted zero vacancies for its 900 berths. Since 2008, vacancies have hovered at 5 percent. That may not seem like much, but a berthing loss of even a few points can have devastating financial impacts on a harbor. Salmon are the basis of a sustainable economy. They are good business, the kind of business California needs.
