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After a two-year closure, fishing boats will incite along California coasts for Chinook salmon this weekend as recreational fishing will resume under strict restrictions.
Coastal salmon fishing was banned in 2023 and 2024 to help populations recover after years of decline. Commercial fishing remains cancelled for the third year in a row, but fisheries regulators recently decided to allow limited seasons for recreational fishing with certain dates and strict allocations.
“We’re all very excited,” said William “Captain Smitty,” Smith. “There’s a lot of talk around the port and everyone is preparing for it.”
Smith and his two deck hands have purchased bait and are preparing hooks, nets and other gear to fish 18 passengers on Saturday and Sunday. He said limited fishing would be allowed within hours of the April announcement.
Smith is 71 years old and has been in the charter boat business for 50 years. It was in 2022 that he last managed to fish for salmon.
His business has struggled over the past two years, so he has come to an end, turning to other types of outings, leading rockfish fishing, whale viewing trips, and holding burials in the ocean where mourners scatter the ashes of their loved ones.
He said the angler “goes and munches a little.” Each person is allowed to chase up to two fish per day.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has restricted marine fishing under two window quotas in the summer and fall. The first is open Saturday through Sunday and is set to allow up to 7,000 salmon to catch statewide.
If that number of fish do not reach the opening weekend, salmon fishing will be allowed until the limit is reached on subsequent stretches, such as July 5-6, July 31-August 6. 3, and August 25-31.
The fishing boat will depart Santa Cruz Harbour on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025.
(For Nick Cooley/For the era)
In addition to Half Moon Bay, fishing boats will be heading out this weekend from other ports in Central and Northern California, including Morro Bay, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg.
“Glancers are expected to be more involved given the two-year closure of the marine salmon fisheries and the shorter period of this fishing period,” the department said in its announcement. “Anglers should prepare for long waits with public launch ramps and marina crowds and consider travel, parking and launch conditions when finalizing plans.”
The agency said fishing will resume in some areas under another harvest limit guidelines for 7,500 Chinook salmon, from Point Reyes south of Marin County to near Half Moon Bay and from Point Sur in Big Monkeys.
Fisheries rely on fall running Chinook, which moves upstream and appears from July to December. For decades, government-run hatch sites in Central Valley have been raising and releasing millions of salmon each year to help increase numbers.
Other salmon runs suffer from a more severe decline. Chinook, which operates in Spring, is listed as being threatened under the Endangered Species Species Act, and Chinook, which operates in Winter, is endangered.
Biologists say the combination of factors including dams that blocked spawning areas, loss of habitat in the important flood plains, and global warming that intensifies drought and increases river temperatures has led to a decline in salmon populations.
During the drought of 2020-22, the water flowing from the dam was sometimes warmer, and was fatal for the salmon eggs. That drought has been a major factor in the decline in salmon population, but fishing workers have denounced California water managers and policies, saying that they are pumping water to farms and cities, and that they are stealing the Times Salmon from enough cold water.
Smith said he wants to see “responsible water management” where state officials prioritize fish flows, and he would like to make efforts to restore flood plains and improve hatching sites’ operations.
Salmon usually feeds in the ocean for about three years before returning to the birth flow, resulting in a decrease in the number of juvenile fish surviving during the drought, resulting in a decrease in the number of adult fish populations. Scientists expect the population should improve somewhat next year to boost its receipt in the historic wet winter of 2023, but warn that the situation facing California salmon will remain disastrous.
Smith said one change that raised his hopes last year saw the end of the four dams be demolished in the Klamath River in Northern California, allowing them to reach upstream spawning areas that had been sealed for more than a century.
“I’m very excited about our future,” he said, adding that he is thinking about his 13-year-old grandson and the next generation.
“I hope there will be a fishing business for my grandchildren. I want him to experience the thrill of catching fish in the ocean.”
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