For Immediate Release: April 15, 2025
Contacts:
Scott Artis, Executive Director, Golden State Salmon Association, 925-550-9208, scott@goldenstatesalmon.org
Barry Nelson, Policy Advisor, Golden State Salmon Association, 510-340-1685, barry@westernwaterstrategies.com
Failed Water Policies Spawn Unprecedented Third Salmon Season Closure
When salmon vanish, fishing families lose their livelihoods—and entire communities are left without work
AMERICAN CANYON, Calif. – Coastal towns, river communities, and tens of thousands of salmon fishermen and women, businesses, and employees that serve both the sport and commercial salmon fishery will be harmed by an unprecedented third consecutive closure of the commercial salmon season.
On Tuesday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to close the 2025 commercial season and highly restrict sportfishing to a few days. Fisheries managers were forced to take the drastic steps in response to a forecasted low number of Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon. Salmon fishing is a major part of the annual income for many of these families and businesses. “This closed commercial and token recreational fishing season is a human tragedy, as well as an economic and environmental disaster,” said Scott Artis, executive director of Golden State Salmon Association.
Since 2023, salmon fishing in California has been shut down due to irresponsible water management during the last drought. Excessive agricultural water diversions led to lethal river temperatures and disastrously low flows when baby salmon are trying to make it from their spawning beds to the ocean.
“It’s not complicated,” said Barry Nelson, policy advisor for Golden State Salmon Association. “If you kill all of the baby salmon, 2 years later you don’t have enough adult salmon to support a season. That’s why our fall-run has collapsed. This problem is highlighted by the disastrous returns on the Sacramento River last fall and the all-time record returns on the Mokelumne River. Bad water management wiped out baby Sacramento River salmon 3 years ago. But Mokelumne River hatchery salmon were trucked around the river to the San Francisco Bay and ocean. This shows that ocean conditions were fine. This is a water policy problem.”
Sacramento River Fall-Run Chinook, historically the largest contributor to ocean salmon harvest off California and Oregon, have experienced dramatic declines over the last 5 years. Between 1996-2005 the average return for fall-run Chinook on the mainstem Sacramento River was 79,841 spawning salmon. In 2023 that number fell drastically to only 3,560 salmon – a 95% decline. Similarly, spring-run Chinook have also experienced a staggering 95% decline due to a lack of cold water flows in California’s salmon rivers. The average wild and hatchery spring-run return plummeted from 28,238 fish in 2021 to just 1,231 salmon in 2023.
“This closure is a wakeup call,” said Artis. “We need to take bold action now, leave just a little more water in the rivers to protect and restore salmon, put people back to work, and save a way of life for fishermen and women, Tribes, and entire coastal and river towns. This closure comes at a frightening time for the salmon economy. Despite the collapse of Central Valley salmon runs, the federal government is working to weaken existing salmon protections – which are obviously too weak already. California must defend our salmon runs and industry against efforts in D.C. to slash protections and destroy our jobs. Currently, we are on a path to the extinction of salmon runs and fishing families. That would be one hell of a fishy legacy.”
“We call on Governor Newsom to direct the State Water Board to protect California’s salmon,” said Nelson. “The Water Board must demand cold water releases on the Sacramento River from the Bureau of Reclamation to prevent another deadly salmon die-off and set science-based flow protections for long-term recovery.”
A healthy California salmon industry is valued at $1.4 billion in economic activity and 23,000 jobs annually to the state in a normal season and contributes millions of dollars more to the economy and supports thousands of jobs in Oregon. Salmon workers benefiting from Central Valley salmon stretch from Santa Barbara to northern Oregon.
Golden State Salmon Association (www.goldenstatesalmon.org) is a coalition of salmon advocates that includes commercial and recreational salmon fishermen and women, businesses, restaurants, native Tribes, environmentalists, elected officials, families and communities that rely on salmon. GSSA’s mission is to restore California salmon for their economic, recreational, commercial, environmental, cultural and health values.
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Press Release
February 26, 2025: California’s Water Policies Pulverize Ocean Salmon Population – Fisheries Agencies Say Brutally Low Forecast Will Constrain 2025 Fishing
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