Despite the closure of salmon fishing in California river and ocean waters in 2023 and 2024, the number of Fall Chinook Salmon returning to both the Sacramento and Klamath River Basins was well below the numbers forecasted by state and federal officials one year ago.  Under the 2024 regulations, the projected spawning escapement in the Sacramento River Basin was 180,061 hatchery and natural area fall Chinook adults, according to the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s just-published Review of Ocean Salmon Fisheries. However, only 99,274 hatchery and natural area adult spawners were estimated to have returned to the Sacramento River Basin in 2024. That number is only 55 percent of the 2024 conservation and management objective of 180,000 fish.

Other fishery news:

• Times-Standard (Eureka, Calif.): 2024 Klamath salmon numbers ‘very low,’ but not surprising, say fish groups​
• Northern California Water Association: Blog: Record amount of food for endangered salmon produced on California ricelands​
• Los Angeles Times: New program aims to boost salmon in Northern California river
• SFGate: Salmon seen in California’s North Yuba River for first time in almost a century
• California WaterBlog: Functional flows are good for California’s native fishes
• The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.): Carmel River: Wading in to save the steelhead