The Pacific Fishery Management Council's preliminary 2009 salmon data show a deep decline in the return of adult Sacramento River Fall Chinook -- the lowest recorded number in the past four decades.
This data -- collected by the state Department of Fish & Game at the Central Valley Hatchery -- will be a major consideration as the PFMC begins the process of setting the 2010 ocean salmon season.
This finding will automatically trigger an "overfishing concern" by the PFMC, officials said.
"This year's Sacramento River fall Chinook adult return is a terrible disappointment," said Neil Manji, DFG fisheries branch chief.
According to DFG's estimates, about 39,500 Fall Chinook adults returned to the Sacramento River to spawn in 2009. It's the third consecutive year that the PFMC Salmon Fishery Management Plan conservation objective has not been met. (A range of 122,000 to 180,000 adult hatchery and natural spawners return to the Central Valley on an annual basis.<CF11>) </CF>
The one positive note in the Sacramento River Fall Chinook estimates is the healthy number of returning two-year-old salmon, or "jacks." DFG counted 9,216 jacks in 2009, more than double the number that returned in 2008. Jack returns are used to help forecast the ocean abundance of adult SRFC for an upcoming season.
The data will be forwarded to the PFMC for consideration as it begins the its annual ocean salmon season setting process. The PFMC sets the season for federal waters from three to 200 miles offshort. The same data will be used by the Fish & Game Commission, which will be setting the state salmon season (up to three miles offshore) at its April 21 meeting.
The information will be formally presented to the PFMC at its March 6-11 meeting. To view the PFMC agenda, visit http://www.pcouncil.org/newsreleases/newsreleases.html.
Joe Segura, a mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper, has covered Gotham City, er Long Beach, for 34 years. During his very, very long -- endless -- tenure, he's covered almost every beat, and he was the main writer for BeachWeek, which focused on life and lifestyles of the shoreline communities from downtown Long Beach to the Huntington Beach pier.
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