Over the past 15 years, the Sacramento and its tributaries have held runs of more than 200,000 fish. In 2007, the spawning salmon fell to just over 90,000. That’s the second lowest total since 1973 and included both wild and hatchery-raised fish.
A memo to the director of the Pacific Fishery Management Council says the news for 2008 is decidedly not good. "The magnitude of the low abundance … is such that the opening of all marine and freshwater fisheries impacting this important salmon stock will be questioned," wrote Donald McIsaac. He called the numbers "an early alert to what at this point appears to be an unprecedented collapse."
How low is low? Well below the council’s minimum conservation target of 122,000 fish. Enough to have the potential to shorten the 2008 fishing season in both the ocean and Central Valley rivers. They’re meeting in Sacramento March 8-14 to start looking at the situation. The salmon season begins in May.
The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations says the effect could be “devastating” and may “mean no fishing at all.” There’s still a good bit of debate in just why the salmon run dropped so precipitously in 2007, but changes in wind patters have halted or delayed deep upwelling currents in the ocean. That stops the food cycle that produces plankton, the primary food source for krill. Krill are the primary food for young salmon spending their first year in the ocean. The same krill is also a major food source for a variety of seabirds who have also declined in numbers.
One reason that’s been cited – and reported in The Outdoor and Fishing Wires – is the poor environmental conditions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Excessive water exports due to the continued drought has led to poor water quality – and diminished food supplies for the native species. Despite complaints from both environmental groups and anglers, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has refused to consider reducing water exports to the farming areas, despite evidence the damaging water exports would not be so heavy if supports for unneeded agricultural products were reduced.
The news today is not good, but the hope for a quick rebound isn’t any better. The county of two year old salmon returning in 2007 was only 2,021 fish. The number isn’t a record low, but an extreme drop from the 36-year average of about 40,000 “jacks” – those early spawners are considered a reliable indicator of the number of three year olds expected to spawn the following year.
