Thanks to generous supporter Pat L., all donations will be doubled until December 31, up to $47,000, to secure matching funds for Golden State Salmon Association’s fight to restore California’s salmon.
Troubling signs are everywhere – thousands of lost jobs, declining salmon runs, toxic algal blooms, dying wildlife, and polluted waterways. Even worse, State decision-makers have cut out fishermen and women (those suffering most from this ecosystem collapse) as well as conservationists from the discussion process.
Donate today and instantly double your impact to restore healthy salmon runs
Our fisheries are in crisis. The State’s actions during drought – including reckless diversions that reduce river flows to a trickle and drive temperatures to lethal levels for salmon eggs – directly resulted in the closure of the 2023 salmon fishing season and record low numbers for Fall- and Spring-runs.
Most importantly, this closure has put thousands out of work in coastal, Bay and inland river communities – including commercial and sportfishing, charter boats, equipment manufacturers and retailers, river guides, marinas, restaurants, motels, fish brokers and more. Families risk losing their boats and homes, and struggle to put food on the table.
Yet, California water policymakers continue to push forward legislation to expand water diversions and empty our rivers for industrial export and luxury agriculture operations. Together with our growing network of commercial and recreational salmon fishermen and women, businesses, conservationists, and families, we must hold the administration accountable for the crash of our salmon. With your help, Golden State Salmon Association employs a multifaceted approach across hydrology, habitat and hatcheries that includes:
- Actively working to block dangerous, proposed State water projects that would further damage salmon and their critical habitat, and
- Working with State and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations to secure emergency actions to safeguard river flows and temperatures and improve hatchery management and production.
With the historic closure of California’s salmon season this year, it is now more important than ever to support critical work that gets more fish returning to our rivers and the fish you need on the back decks. GSSA has:
- Encouraged moving release sites of baby salmon further west, increasing survival by 200% and sometimes as much as 300%,
- Worked with CDFW and Coleman National Fish Hatchery to reintroduce the surplus fry program with parent-based tagging, and
- Encouraged Coleman hatchery to do a controlled group study of salmon by trucking them 75 miles downstream during dry years, which preliminary results currently show a return of 11 times more fish.
Donate today and instantly double your impact to restore healthy salmon runs, protect Central Valley rivers and Bay-Delta spawning and rearing habitat, and the tens of thousands of jobs, coastal communities and wildlife that rely on salmon each year. Thank you for your membership and supporting our efforts, which are needed now more than ever.