March 11, 2023 — The sight of his charter boat, Salty Lady, propped up on blocks in a Richmond boat repair seemed the perfect metaphor for Captain Jared Davis’ upcoming salmon fishing season — up in the air.
With the biologists in California projecting a record low return of Fall chinook – or King salmon – Davis’ prospects of getting to fish this year were about as empty as his nets.
“The numbers are pretty clear,” said Davis who operates out of Sausalito, “I don’t see how there could be any other options aside from having a completely closed season this year.”
Fishing regulators are likely to come to the same conclusion. On Friday, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council is set to release its fishing options for the upcoming commercial and recreational salmon seasons which normally begin in May. But most in the industry expect the council to recommend closing the entire salmon fishing season for the first time since 2008, and only the second time in history.