Salmon Fishing off California, Oregon Coasts Canceled
By Tom Chandler on Apr 11, 2008 in Environment, News
As expected, the collapse of salmon stocks in the Sacramento River has resulted in the cancellation of the salmon season off the California and Oregon coasts (only limited recreational Coho salmon fishing will be allowed off central Oregon).
The news wires are crawling with stories, suppositions, animosity and outright rage, though the collapse of the final commercially viable run in California (the Sacramento Chinook runs) remains somewhat shrouded in mystery.
The Underground’s Crack Team of Salmon Analysts have extensively studied the situation and decided two things will almost certainly occur:
- Lots of finger pointing as to the cause of the collapse (Scientists and fishermen point their fingers at habitat loss, water quality, Delta water diversions and ocean conditions)
- There will be lots of farm-raised salmon on the dinner menu
See you at the grill, Tom Chandler.
Mark Ostrom | Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
Finger pointing below:
Last week I sent Tom a picture to you of my Dad and some other mook with fully 200 lbs of King Salmon on the back of the car. (4 fish)
My Grandfather, Edwin J. Van Wormer, surveyed the Sacramento river for Shasta Dam and the SP railroad for 40 years, fishing every afternoon after work.
He described being knocked all over the river even while in the boat by the scores of huge salmon. Sometimes the riverbed would be Red from spawn.
IN those days the Kings regularly topped 70 lbs and some up to 120 lbs were taken.
~ concurrently ~
The stonefly population on the Upper Sac was so prodigious as to stop cars along River road as they would slip off the road on the dead stonefly slicks.
There were so many stonefly’s that you couldn’t stand to be in the water I was told.
The average Sacramento River trout now is well below 18 inches, most around a foot long.
ALL OF THESE OUTCOMES ARE THE RESULT OF SHASTA DAM AND THE TWO ‘SUPPORT’ DAMS.
The annual anadromous migration of Salmon and Steelhead was enough to keep several California Indian populations alive and ultra healthy as well, and there was a well used spearing spot down by Delta. Read Grant Towendolly’s book “a Bag of Bones” to witness the “Old days” of Indian life on the Sacramento.
When you deny a river the tons and tons of natural nutrients deposited by the decaying Salmon, you basically make a healthy ecosystem into a nice, clean, starving environment.
This action also robs the surrounding land, which is all fed directly or indirectly by the Salmon “Flood”, and resulting abundance of fish nutrients.
There are no more Grizzly bears here as they required SALMON each year to fatten up for winter. The populations of Birds have declined massively due to the lack of Insect Food for them, again as there are fewer nutrients to feed the water borne bugs they just aren’t hatching.
Yesterday I saw 5 drowned Lesser Plecoptera in the Soda Spring at Cave Springs. By now, with the warm weather approaching, I should have been surrounded by them.
Alas, the “good ole’ days” are over, there won’t be a massive recovery and this is just a continuation of the results of Dam Building ~ including in this instance, Shasta, Keswick and the Red Bluff diversion dam, each a barrier to returning spawners. (And the Red Bluff dam literally blended tiny spawners into pulp as they tried to swim downstream.)
When I started Steelhead fishing in the 80’s, I could go to any riffle below Redding or anywhere in Battle Creek and score a nice hen pretty much without fail.
Now it’s colossal waste of time.
I hate to be the arbiter of scary news: But you’d better buy stock in those “virtual” fishing games and be happy with Hatchery born degenerates. (and order your CHELATION kit now to rid yourself of all the heavy metals in the hatchery raised fish.)
~ sigh ~
I propose that the California Fish and Game STOP giving the harvested Salmon they take for spawn to the ‘poor people’ of the County. By so doing, they are literally starving an ecosystem to death. The dead Hens should be carted up to the upper river and just dumped in right below Box Canyon Dam. “A spill of Life” if you will.
Cumulatively, that action alone would begin a small restoration of not just FISH but what they need to live on as well, it might give the Insect populations enough food to actually INCREASE, and It would bring the River’s health back substantially.
But I’m apparently a “social darwinist” to deny the dead fish to the “needy” who mostly just throw them away or feed them to their dogs anyway.
shit.
Smellslikefish | Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
Uhhhhhhhh…, dammit.
isaac roman | Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
yes yes yes—-spread the word of river life —-sread the word
Tom Chandler | Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
Years ago, I talked to local legend Joe Kimsey about the Upper Sac’s and McCloud’s pre-dam years; he was young, but he remembers fishing for salmon and steelhead before Keswick Dam went in (creating Lake Shasta), which sealed off — by more than one estimate — about 80% of the salmon spawning habitat in the state.
Mark Ostrom | Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
You all should read the article in Friday’s SF chronicle regarding the issue and the Yurok stake in the river’s decline.
http://tinyurl.com/3g9ohr
Tom Chandler | Apr 13, 2008 | Reply
Mark: That article pertains to the Klamath River, which faces many of the same issues.
I’m slowly building a post about the hugely complex Klamath River settlement agreement; it’s an issue that’s all over the place, with no clear cut answers or boundaries.