After a two-year shutdown, fishing boats will fan out along the California coast angling for Chinook salmon this weekend as recreational fishing resumes under strict limits. Coastal salmon fishing was banned in 2023 and 2024 in an effort to help the population recover after years of declines. … The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is limiting ocean fishing under quotas in two windows in the summer and fall. The first is set to open Saturday-Sunday and allow for up to 7,000 salmon to be caught statewide. … Biologists say salmon populations have declined because of a combination of factors including dams, which have blocked off spawning areas, the loss of vital floodplain habitats, and global warming, which is intensifying droughts and causing warmer temperatures in rivers. … Those who work in fishing also blame California’s water managers and policies, saying too much water has been pumped to farms and cities, depriving rivers of sufficient cold water at the times salmon need it.

Related article:

• Santa Cruz Sentinel (Calif.): Monterey Bay mayhem: First of ‘limited windows’ in canceled salmon season is this weekend
• KRCR (Redding, Calif.): California ocean salmon season reopens after two-year closure