Ocean Chinook salmon fishing is likely to be canceled for much of Oregon this summer.
The National Marine Fisheries Service the spring season, which was set to run from March 15 to May 15.
The Pacific Marine Fisheries Council is considering for the season, none of which would allow Chinook fishing until September in much of the state.
It鈥檚 a huge blow to Oregon鈥檚 commercial fishing industry, but officials say it鈥檚 necessary for the fish population to rebound from ongoing drought.
鈥淭his year鈥檚 management alternatives are significantly reduced or closed to fishing opportunity to keep fishing impacts minimal given the critically low abundance forecasts for key California Chinook stocks of concern,鈥� according to a press release from the council.
Barry McCovey, fisheries department director for the Yurok Tribe, said the drought has led to extremely low numbers of fall-run Chinook returning to the Klamath and Sacramento rivers to spawn.
鈥淲hen there鈥檚 years like this of low abundance, tribes suffer just like everyone else suffers,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at a really, really low return on the Klamath, and that means that there aren鈥檛 going to be many opportunities for the tribal people here in the Basin to harvest fall salmon this year.鈥�
The of the Klamath Dams, which was announced late last year, will open up over 400 miles of spawning habitat to fall-run Chinook.
Though it will potentially take decades, McCovey said the habitat restoration will be critical to helping fish populations rebound.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be one of the largest fish restoration projects in the history of the world,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we have to make sure that in the interim, we don鈥檛 lose these species.鈥�
The council is expected to announce its final plans for the summer season by April 7.
Yurok Tribe Fisheries Department Director Barry McCovey spoke to 鈥淭hink Out Loud鈥� host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation:
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