Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has declared a commercial fishery disaster and so the National Marine Fishery Service has announced the closure of commercial and recreational fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon. It followed the recommendation last month of the Pacific Fishery Management Council after the catastrophic disappearance of California’s fabled fall run of the pink fish popularly known as king salmon.
It is the first closure in the Bay Area since 1848. Last month California Governor plans to appropriate about $5.3 million for coastal salmon and steelhead fishery restoration projects. The disaster declaration allows state officials to work with Congress on obtaining appropriations for businesses and fishermen and women, some of whom will lose as much as 80 percent of their annual income.
It is fact that salmon spawning has been on decline all up and down the coats as the biggest problem lies in the Sacramento River and its tributaries. This made few salmon to return last fall and so the fishery council was required under its management plan to halt fishing throughout the salmon habitat, which is all along the California and Oregon coasts.
