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A record low number of Salmon returning to California and Oregon tributaries to spawn last year has raised the possibility that the Pacific Fishery Management Council, a federal agency created to manage the fishery along the West Coast, may outright cancel the entire 2008 salmon fishing season:

Such a move would jeopardize the livelihoods of close to 1,000 commercial fishermen from Santa Barbara to Washington State and would significantly drive up the price of West Coast wild salmon.

A decision to shut down the fishery also would kill recreational salmon fishing for some 2.4 million anglers in California, an activity that the American Sportfishing Association has estimated is worth $4 billion.

“This is unprecedented,” said Dave Bitts, a commercial salmon and crab fisherman based in Eureka. “The Sacramento fish are our bread and butter, and there are not even any crumbs. It’s horrible. It means half or more of my income is not going to be there at all this year.”

The reasons behind this precipitous drop are still somewhat undetermined, though its basically a game of pick-your-favorite:

The scientists, fishermen and tribal representatives at the meetings this week are trotting out various theories for the decline, including global warming, diversions of freshwater in the delta, pumping operations, a lack of nutrient rich deep ocean upwellings and exposure to pollutants. One document lists 46 possible reasons. Dygert said the death of so many salmon “is suggesting a broad-scale ocean survival problem.”

“One thing we know is that these fish had plenty of parents,” said Bitts. “Something has happened since then.”

Maybe this has something to do with it…

Tags: california | cancelled | fishing | pacific | Pacific Fishery Management Council. | Salmon | season

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