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Central Valley Salmon Populations Facing "Unprecedented Collapse"

By Tom Chandler 1/30/2008

image We first covered this in March, so I wasn't totally surprised to find "collapse" headlines screaming at us from every newsfeed: The chinook salmon runs in the Sacramento River are the second lowest ever recorded, and the 90,000 adult fish are only one-tenth the all-time high (800,000 recorded five years ago).

From the LA Times:

SACRAMENTO -- -- Faced with an "unprecedented collapse" of California's Central Valley salmon population, federal regulators warned Tuesday that the West Coast fishing industry is on course toward steep restrictions this year.

The number of chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento River plummeted to near historic lows last year, and fishery experts are predicting similarly light returns this year.

Donald McIsaac, director of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, said the reason for the decline remains unclear.

There's been a lot of speculation about the non-availability of food for juvenile salmon due to ocean conditions (which many scientists are linking to climate change issues), yet one group remains convinced the problem is at least partially due to Delta water diversions:

The Sacramento River's "missing salmon" were juveniles migrating to sea in spring 2005, when state and federal water managers "set records for pumping delta water south," said Mike Sherwood, an attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental legal group that has been jousting with water managers over water exports.

The Environmental News Service is carrying a slightly more detailed article than the LA Times, but you don't really have to read the fine print to guess what comes next.

Fishing closures (both sport and commercial), the inevitable government payouts, and yes -- the finger pointing.

There are a lot of people hoping this is a one-time event, but the low number of returning "jack" salmon (two year-old fish) suggests poor returns in 2008.

Is this an artifact of global climate change? Are the ghosts of all those delta water diversions and habitat compromises finally coming back to haunt us?

See you buying tofu, Tom Chandler.

UPDATES: Singlebarbed weighed in last night. Now the Eugene, Oregon Register Guard considers the economic consequences to Oregon's coastal fishing communities -- already pummeled by Klamath-related closures and this year's disastrously low catches:


Earlier this year, the Oregon Salmon Commission released figures that depict one of the worst salmon seasons on record. The fleet landed 463,500 pounds, about 20,000 pounds less than in 2006 "” a more restricted season. Between 1979 and 2007, chinook landings have averaged more than 2 million pounds. In only two of those years have landings dropped below 500,000 pounds.

The fleet earned $2.6 million in 2007, slightly less than what trollers brought in the year before, despite the highest price per pound fishermen have fetched since 1981: $5.64.

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Tom Chandler

As the author of the decade leading fly fishing blog Trout Underground, Tom believes that fishing is not about measuring the experience but instead of about having fun. As a staunch environmentalist, he brings to the Yobi Community thought leadership on environmental and access issues facing us today.

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[...] Central Valley Salmon Populations Facing quot;Unprecedented Collapsequot;SACRAMENTO — – Faced with an #8220;unprecedented collapse#8221; of California's Central Valley salmon population, federal regulators warned Tuesday that the West Coast fishing industry is on course toward steep restrictions this year. #8230; [...]
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GG: Thanks. A civil engineering friend (who worked on CA water issues) said the arid parts of the state (that import water, e.g. LA) won't admit there's a problem until one day they turn on their tap and nothing comes out. It's an oversimplification, but probably an accurate one, and the collapse of the salmon stocks might not even generate an admission of a problem...
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I remember when one of my admirers in Humboldt showed up at my door with a Chinook Salmon--handing it to me whole and saying, "Here this is for you." Yep, men in the wilderness are a breed of their own. Which has nothing to do with your post except that the gift was a symbol of the wealth of the area at the time. Abundant salmon existed and many men made their livings as fishing guides or fishermen ... more in an area where the economy was "challenged." My belief is that we are polluting our water sources so highly that the extent of the damage has escalated so much that nobody wants to look at it--pointing fingers is right--how about taking some other actions? In my area, the filtration process has been impeded by construction and heavy traffic. Runoff that use to filter through the ground or through gravel is now transported directly into the main water ways via asphalt roads and cement covered areas...plus it picks up muck along the way. This is to say nothing about the dumping we do into our oceans. It used to be that I thrilled to venture into the bodies of water nearby. Today, I won't go into the Pacific Ocean on the West coast (gee, they finally started posting warning signs and issuing news alerts on the dangers after a heavy rain) nor my local lake. I've actually found sewage outlets into the lake bed when the waters levels were low. Ewwwwhhhhh. So, despite the issues surrounding recreational or commercial fishing, I think it goes back to society taking responsibility as a whole...and getting changes implemented on a broad scope level. Oh, did I get carried away? BTW: I enjoy your blog immensely. I can't always comment in depth but I do drop by on a regular basis--guess you use the right bait around these parts.
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Isaac: Lots of good points, though many scientists are pointing at a lack of food in the ocean (due to climate change) as one of the causes of the crash. All the habitat degradation (I've heard that Shasta dam plugged up better than 80% of the state's prime steelhead and salmon spawning habitat) set the stage for what's playing out now -- you create a situation where there's damned little margin for ... more error, so when something catastrophic does happen (like currents changing in the ocean), the system is ripe for collapse.
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i believe, or want to believe it has to to do with mote than one factor.... first water quality-- when i was doing watershed restoration in the redding area I learned of an old dump near hilltop. for about fifty years everything was thrwn down the side of the hil into the mighty sac, you can only imagine how many items have been leeching their toxic inards into the river(all batteries, tvs, oils, ... more ect. this site has never been cleaned up. also the famed iron mtn mine has a tendency to introduce sulphuric acid right into the upper streches where the spawning takes place. not much of a chance for a acid tainted egg or fry. not to mention all the other pollution in the sea or down river. 2nd open sea fishing. yes we have slowed our commercial fishing, but what about russia,china,japan,ect. there is no way some bankies or river guides have stripped the river. they are most likely rapping the waters as they always have, out in the open seas. millions and millions of our kings and coho have fallen to this mass genocide for our sushi. that MIGHT be part of it 3rd the dams. you remove hundreds of miles of spawning habitat and there just wont be any numbers looking up. unless of course your the trinity river and can mimic flood stages through high water realeases. it is amazing to me that man can drop a giant wall right in the middle of a perfectly functioning ecosystem and expect it to maintain and survive. yes the lower sac is a trophy trout fishery, but it used to be a salmon and steelhead fishery. now i might be way off, yet this is just what i have obseved with my third eye.
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