EcoWatch
Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k Subscribe Subscribe
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Conservation
  • Food + Agriculture
  • Renewables
  • Oceans
  • Policy
  • Insights + Opinion
  • Go Solar Today
      • Top Companies By State
        • California Solar Companies
        • Texas Solar Companies
        • New York Solar Companies
        • Florida Solar Companies
        • See All States
      • Top Incentives By State
        • California Solar Incentives
        • Texas Solar Incentives
        • New York Solar Incentives
        • Florida Solar Incentives
        • See All States
      • Solar Panel Costs By State
        • Solar Panel Costs in California
        • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
        • Solar Panel Costs in New York
        • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
        • See All States
      • Value of Solar by State
        • Is Solar Worth It In California?
        • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
        • Is Solar Worth It New York?
        • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
        • See All States
      • Company Reviews
        • Tesla Solar Review
        • Sunrun Solar Review
        • SunPower Solar Review
        • Vivint Solar Review
        • See All Companies
      • Common Solar Questions
        • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
        • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
        • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
        • Can You Finance Solar?
        • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
        • Payback On Solar Panels?
      • Solar Resources
        • Interactive Solar Calculator
        • Federal Solar Tax Credit
        • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
        • Tesla Solar Roof Review
        • Cheapest Solar Panels
      • Companies Compared
        • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs SunPower
        • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
        • SunPower vs ADT Solar
EcoWatch
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Conservation
  • Food + Agriculture
  • Renewables
  • Oceans
  • Policy
  • Insights + Opinion
  • Go Solar Today
    • Go Solar Today
    • Top Companies By State
      • California Solar Companies
      • Texas Solar Companies
      • New York Solar Companies
      • Florida Solar Companies
      • See All States
    • Top Incentives By State
      • California Solar Incentives
      • Texas Solar Incentives
      • New York Solar Incentives
      • Florida Solar Incentives
      • See All States
    • Solar Panel Costs By State
      • Solar Panel Costs in California
      • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
      • Solar Panel Costs in New York
      • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
      • See All States
    • Value of Solar by State
      • Is Solar Worth It In California?
      • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
      • Is Solar Worth It New York?
      • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
      • See All States
    • Company Reviews
      • Tesla Solar Review
      • Sunrun Solar Review
      • SunPower Solar Review
      • Vivint Solar Review
      • See All Companies
    • Common Solar Questions
      • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
      • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
      • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
      • Can You Finance Solar?
      • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
      • Payback On Solar Panels?
    • Solar Resources
      • Interactive Solar Calculator
      • Federal Solar Tax Credit
      • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
      • Tesla Solar Roof Review
      • Cheapest Solar Panels
    • Companies Compared
      • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs SunPower
      • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
      • SunPower vs ADT Solar

The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k
    EcoWatch
    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k
    Home Climate

    Chinook Salmon Season Canceled for Much of U.S. West Coast as California Recovers From Drought

    By: Olivia Rosane
    Published: April 7, 2023
    Edited by Irma Omerhodzic
    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon
    US-ENVIRONMENT-DROUGHT-FISHING
    Chinook salmon swim up a ladder in California during a drought PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP / Getty Images
    Why you can trust us

    Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

    For the first time in 14 years, there will be no commercial and recreational Chinook salmon fishing for much of the California and Oregon coast this season.

    That is the decision of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, announced Thursday, due to the low numbers of the popular salmon species returning to California rivers and streams. 

    “The forecasts for Chinook returning to California rivers this year are near record lows,” Council Chair Marc Gorelnik said in a press release announcing the decision. “The poor conditions in the freshwater environment that contributed to these low forecasted returns are unfortunately not something that the Council can, or has authority to, control.”

    Those poor conditions are due to a combination of California’s long-running drought, which was turbocharged by the climate crisis, and the often political battle over how to allocate the water that remains. The scarcity of water makes it harder for salmon to spawn and swim to the ocean.

    “Salmon flourish when we have very wet conditions. Cool temperatures are good for the eggs. They survive better. And when the juveniles then migrate to the ocean, if there are high flows, they survive much, much better,”  NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center Fisheries Ecology Division Director Steve Lindley told The Washington Post. “None of those things were happening very often in the last decade.” 

    At the same time, San Francisco commercial fisher Sarah Bates argued in for Cal Matters, that, when water does run scarce, agriculture is prioritized over salmon habitat. Trump era water management rules that directed even more  Sacramento River Basin water to agriculture exacerbated the crisis, other fishers told CBS News. The Sacramento River, along with the Klamath River, supply most of the Chinook salmon caught off the Oregon coast.

    This year, California Department of Fish and Wildlife scientists estimate that only 169,767 adult Chinook will return to the Sacramento River in the fall, which is one of but not the lowest estimates since the current system started in 2008. The number estimated to return to the Klamath is  103,793 adults, the second lowest forecast since that river’s accounting system began in 1997. 

    In response, the council fully canceled the commercial and recreational California ocean fishing season from the Oregon to Mexican border, as well as the commercial fishing season in the Oregon and California Klamath Management Zones. This is the first time the season has been canceled since between 2008 and 2009, according to CBS. The decision still needs to be finalized by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, who typically follows the council’s advice.

    More From EcoWatch
    • What Is Solar Energy & How Does it Work?
    • What the IRA Means for You
    • Solar Tax Credit Calculator

    Luckily, there is hope for California’s Chinook salmon following the state’s extremely wet winter. 

    “This should be good for the salmon,” Lindley told The Washington Post. “We should see benefits from this in a few years.”

    However, Bates also said that regulators could not rely on the weather to save the salmon. 

    “This should be an opportunity to make changes and ensure this tragedy doesn’t occur again in 14 years,” Bates wrote. “California needs serious change in water management. We need our governor, Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and state Department of Water Resources to ensure sufficient flows of cold water through our river ecosystems. We need solutions that don’t frame the problem as farms versus fish but strike a balance between both land and ocean-based food resources.”

    Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

      By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

      Olivia Rosane

      Olivia Rosane is an environmental journalist with a decade’s worth of experience. She has been contributing to EcoWatch since 2018 and has also covered environmental themes for Common Dreams, Atmos, Rewilding, Seattle Met, Treehugger, The Trouble, YES! Magazine and Real Life. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and a master’s in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.
      Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

      Read More

      Global Hunger Rises for 6th Consecutive Year in a ‘World Dangerously off Course’: UN Report
      Acute global food insecurity rose for the sixth year in
      By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
      Low River Levels in UK Raise Concerns of Drought
      Extremely low river levels in the UK recently have experts
      By Paige Bennett
      Record Number of River Barriers Removed in Europe in 2024: Report
      European countries dismantled a record 542 dams, culverts, weirs and
      By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes

      Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

        By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

        Latest Articles

        • Global Hunger Rises for 6th Consecutive Year in a ‘World Dangerously off Course’: UN Report
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 16, 2025
        • Low River Levels in UK Raise Concerns of Drought
          by Paige Bennett
          May 16, 2025
        • Record Number of River Barriers Removed in Europe in 2024: Report
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 16, 2025
        • China’s CO2 Emissions Fall for the First Time Despite Rising Power Demand, Signaling Possible Peak
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 16, 2025
        • New Project Will Reintroduce Elk to UK for the First Time in 3,000 Years
          by Paige Bennett
          May 15, 2025
        • Protecting the World’s Seagrass Meadows Could Prevent Billions in Damages, New Research Suggests
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 15, 2025
        • European Companies Increasingly Support Strong Climate Action: Report
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 15, 2025
        • Mapping of England’s Peatlands Finds 80% Have Become Degraded
          by Paige Bennett
          May 14, 2025
        EcoWatch

        The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

          • Climate Climate
          • Animals Animals
          • Health + Wellness Health + Wellness
          • Insights + Opinion Insights + Opinion
          • Adventure Adventure
          • Oceans Oceans
          • Business Business
          • Solar Solar
          • About EcoWatch
          • Contact EcoWatch
          • EcoWatch Reviews
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy Policy
          • Learn About Solar Energy
          • Learn About Deregulated Energy
          • EcoWatch UK
          Follow Us
          Facebook 558k
          Twitter 222k
          Instagram 52k
          Subscribe Subscribe

          Experts for a healthier planet and life.

          Mentioned by:
          Learn more
          • Privacy Policy
          • Terms of Use
          • Cookie Preferences
          • Do Not Sell My Information
          © 2025 EcoWatch. All Rights Reserved.

          Advertiser Disclosure

          Our editorial team is committed to creating independent and objective content focused on helping our readers make informed decisions. To help support these efforts we receive compensation from companies that advertise with us.

          The compensation we receive from these companies may impact how and where products appear on this site. This compensation does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides within our content. We do not include all companies, products or offers that may be available.