The California salmon season which would normally be starting about now, has been officially cancelled, now two years in a row. Visitors to Fishermen’s Wharf who are taking San Francisco tours may notice the wharf seems especially postcard like, with all of the docks full of their authentic fishing trawlers. But what makes for an impressive photo means that the salmon fishing business is in trouble.
Roughly one thousand fishermen have been displaced by the fishing ban, though for now there are compensatory funds available to offset their losses during such an emergency. The real worry is not this season, but rather that the salmon population is in permanent jeopardy. Scientists are not entirely certain as to the cause of the decline and are studying numerous influences. One theory is the lack of rainfall in the last couple of years which hasn’t allowed the fish to return upstream to return to their creeks of origin to spawn, so the streams that cut the places like Muir Woods have been depleted of the fish stocks that so many on Muir Woods tours had hoped to see. Also, damns in the central valley and Napa Valley which regulate water to the San Francisco area are having an impact on the water quantity and quality. It is also believed that there could be issues due to chemical seeping from agricultural land, city runoff, and reduction of habitat from development.
