“Things look very, very bad for the salmon season this year, unless you’re a salmon. Then it looks damned good!”
So reads the April 7 Lawson’s Landing Fishing Report by Willy Vogler. Three days later, federal fishery managers voted unanimously to ban all commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California for the second year in a row, citing numerous climate-related and human-caused disasters, from algal blooms to water diversions, drought and wildfire. Even with plenty of rain in the last two years, officials say it will likely take another year for salmon to benefit.
“After the closure last year, this decision is not an easy one to make,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham said in a statement. “While we have been enjoying back-to-back rainy and wet winters this year and last, the salmon that will benefit from these conditions aren’t expected to return to California until around 2026 or 2027. The current salmon for this year’s season were impacted by the difficult environmental factors present three to five years ago.”
Earlier this year, the state published a sprawling restoration plan to aid California salmon populations. Meanwhile, the federal government set aside $20.6 million for those in the fishing industry who lost out last year.
The second year of closure will deliver a blow to the handful of small-scale fishermen operating out of Bolinas and Dillon Beach who will turn to halibut, rockfish, stripers and more—markets that are likely to overheat due to the added competition.
“The real downside to me is having to deal with the market because everyone in my position will resort to halibut fishing,” said Willy Norton, a commercial fisherman in Bolinas. “[Halibut] is a lower dollar per pound, it’s harder to sell and the price will go down—it’s a financial burden, for sure.”
At 24, Mr. Norton may be the youngest commercial fisherman in West Marin. He said that although reports show a drop in salmon populations statewide, his experiences fishing around Bolinas and Point Reyes have shown a healthy stock.
Historically, salmon returning to California rivers numbered in the millions annually, but they are now a fraction of that. Fewer than 80,000 fall-run chinook salmon in the Central Valley returned to spawn in 2022, a roughly 40 percent decline from the year before and the lowest since 2009. Dams alone block up to 90 percent of historical chinook spawning and rearing grounds in the Central Valley watershed.
West Marin’s Lagunitas Creek watershed is home to the largest run of coho salmon south of Fort Bragg. The Lagunitas and Mount Tamalpais watersheds are also home to fall runs of chinook salmon and steelhead trout, which enter the ocean from Tomales Bay and Redwood Creek and disperse along the West Coast.
In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom released a plan outlining 71 actions that aim to rejuvenate salmon runs in California. His report has six priorities: removing barriers and modernizing infrastructure for salmon migration, restoring and expanding habitat, protecting water flows and water quality, modernizing salmon hatcheries, adapting to climate change and strengthening partnerships between federal agencies, local stewards and tribal entities.
Critics have said that tribes, fishing organizations and water boards across the state set the groundwork for the water conservation and habitat restoration strategies outlined in the report, and that the governor has been reluctant to approve water flows in Northern California due to farmers’ needs. “What it potentially boils down to is conveniently timed smoke and mirrors,” Scott Artis, director of the Golden State Salmon Association, said in a statement. “[The plan] is packed full of good stuff that we have been fighting to get for years [but which] conflicts with what the Newsom administration has been doing for years to devastate California’s most important salmon runs.”
In February, Rep. Jared Huffman helped secure $20.6 million for fishermen who suffered from last year’s closure. Though lower than the original request of $45 million, the funds were distributed based on projected losses of bait sales, river guides, commercial trollers, processors and charter boats.
Mr. Vogler sees the shutdown as an opportunity for the salmon runs to recover, and for the fishermen to catch a break. “I figured that we, fishermen, will get blamed for any shortage of fish returning to the rivers if there’s a lack of them and we’re allowed to fish. No season, not my fault,” he wrote.