The Secretary of Commerce has determined that a commercial fishery failure due to a fishery resource disaster occurred in two California ocean and inland salmon fisheries.
The Secretary of Commerce determined that a commercial fishery failure due to a fishery resource disaster occurred in these 2023 ocean and inland salmon fisheries:
- California Sacramento River Fall Chinook
- Klamath River Fall Chinook
The determination is in response to requests from Acting Governor Eleni Kounalakis.
Secretary of Commerce, Gina M. Raimondo, working with NOAA Fisheries, evaluates each fishery resource disaster request based primarily on data submitted by the requesting official. A fishery disaster determination must meet specific requirements under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. For example, there must be economic impacts and an unexpected large decrease in fish stock biomass or other change. These impacts result in significant loss of access to the fishery resource resulting from specific allowable causes due to the fishery resource disaster event.
This positive determination makes these fisheries eligible for disaster assistance from NOAA. Fishery participants may also qualify for disaster assistance from the Small Business Administration. The Department of Commerce has fishery disaster assistance funding available and in the near future will determine the appropriate allocation for these disasters.