For the seventh time in less than a decade, Oregon’s commercial fishermen, governor and congressional delegation are asking for federal aid to soften the blow of climate change on the state’s ocean salmon fisheries. … Oregon’s commercial ocean salmon fishermen caught about 18,000 Chinook between March and October of 2024 — about 40% of the 10-year average. From 2011 to 2015, the average catch was closer to 75,000 per year, according to John North, an assistant fish division administrator with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. More than 50% of Chinook were caught in Newport in 2024, while southern Oregon fisheries struggled with low returns due to drought and warming waters in the Sacramento and Klamath rivers.