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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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Fishing Ban Imperils Calif. Salmon Industry

There aren't enough fish to sustain industry: fishery heads

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(Newser) – Plummeting populations have led to a federal ban on commercial salmon fishing off  California for the second straight year, raising fears that the industry will disappear altogether, the Los Angeles Times reports. "If we don't go fishing next year, we have to start thinking that salmon fishing in California is over," said a commercial fisherman. That possibility also affects numerous affiliated businesses, from ice producers to fuel suppliers.

Warm ocean conditions, low food supply, habitat destruction, and pollution have devastated chinook salmon stocks, which have fallen to levels below what's necessary to sustain the population. A $170 million federal bailout last year helped offset the financial consequences, but a possible biological fix is far more elusive. "There's no one smoking gun," said one expert, "but there are a lot of spent shell casings all over the place."

Hugo Tapia, a worker at the Princeton Seafood Fish Restaurant & Market, holds up a frozen Wild King Salmon from Canada, at his market in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Hugo Tapia, a worker at the Princeton Seafood Fish Restaurant & Market, holds up a frozen Wild King Salmon from Canada, at his market in Half Moon Bay, Calif.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
A fish culturalist views tiny winter run chinook salmon hatched at the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery located at the base of Shasta Dam at Shasta Lake, Calif.
A fish culturalist views tiny winter run chinook salmon hatched at the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery located at the base of Shasta Dam at Shasta Lake, Calif.   (AP File Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
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A "No Fishing" sign is posted at a fishing pier in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Federal fisheries managers have severely limited California's chinook salmon fishing season.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
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Salmon numbers are
creeping up again, but there is no guarantee such trends will lead to fishable populations in the next two to three years, or beyond. - Peter Moyle, fish biology
professor at UC Davis

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4 comments
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Robert_Dada
Apr 9, 09 9:58 AM CDT
Say goodbye everyone. Things are finally coming to an end. Reply
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Snowleopard
Apr 9, 09 6:01 PM CDT
pacific northwest salmon are stabilized, but at 10% of what the runs were 50 year ago. Reply
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radnip
Apr 9, 09 9:20 PM CDT
Warm ocean conditions, low food supply, habitat destruction, and pollution have devastated chinook salmon stocks + fishing won't make the industry disappear forever? At least with the ban, the fish will still exist, which means there might be SOME fishing. When one looks at the history of fishing and how many fishing stocks have been devastated by fishing fleets, which then move on to the next fishing grounds, the next fish, it doesn't make one think that fishermen are very smart. It makes one think fishermen are a suicidal lot. Reply
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riffran
Apr 10, 09 6:04 AM CDT
sushi is going to get real expensive Reply
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