Salmon season unlikely in San Mateo County

“The misery has gone, come, gone. It’s back and forth,” Tim Obert, a commercial fisher that sits on a number of commercial fishing advisory boards, said. “It’s no shock to anyone there’s not a season being modeled.” 

The Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended a repeat closure for commercial salmon fisheries and very limited recreational options — including one opening from June 7-8 with a 7,000 Chinook harvest limit across the state and an additional opportunity for waters between Point Reyes and Point Sur from Sept. 4-7, with a 7,500 Chinook harvest limit. 

If those limits aren’t met, additional days will be opened per the recommendation, according to a press release from the CDFW. 

“The short windows of open fishing followed by a period of closure are designed to allow for careful tracking and estimation of catch by CDFW to ensure the fishery does not exceed the harvest guidelines,” the April 15 press release said. 

It’s anticipated that the National Marine Fisheries Service will move to officially enforce the recommendation sometime in mid-May. 

The decision came largely because the slim margins of forecasted adult salmon wouldn’t make a salmon season financially viable for most fishers, Obert said.

“It wasn’t viable,” he said. “It wasn’t even profitable.” 

The number of juvenile salmon returning does retain hope for upcoming seasons, Obert said, noting that droughts of past years caused poor water conditions and temperatures that likely limited current adult stock. 

The main issue for fishers now, from Obert’s opinion, is the lack of disaster relief payments. Though disaster relief has been approved both for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the allocated funds have yet to be budgeted. 

“It’s a pretty bad place to be,” he said. “Anyone who is a full-time salmon fisherman had to go get a different job — that’s pretty brutal.”