Feds Looking A Cutting Back on Salmon Fishing Along The West Coast

Federal officials have proposed curtailing nontribal salmon fishing along the West Coast especially in challenging years in an effort to assist Northwest endangered killer whales. NOAA Fisheries is taking public comment on the plan, which calls for restricting commercial and recreational salmon fishing when Chinook salmon forecasts are especially low.

The southern resident killer whales, the endangered orcas that spend much of their time in the waters between Washington state and British Columbia, depend heavily on runs of Chinook. The fishing restrictions would extend from Puget Sound to central California’s Monterey Bay, and they would be triggered when fewer than 966,000 Chinook are forecast to return to Northwest rivers. The last time forecast Chinook returns were that low was in 2007.

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