2/7/11
CRESCENT CITY, Calif.—An unexpectedly large run of salmon in the rivers of far Northern California this winter is providing an economic boost to local communities across the hard-hit region.
After years of declining fish numbers, some waterways, including the Smith River—which flows through giant redwoods into the Pacific Ocean near Crescent City—have seen their best salmon returns since the 1970s, according to the California Department of Fish and Game and local biologists.
That is jump-starting the business for guides like Ken Cunningham, who lives near this town of 7,500 and fishes for salmon from a small boat drifting downriver. The 63-year-old said he spent about 20 days guiding last October at the height of the run, compared with about 10 days in October 2009. At $250 to $350 a trip, depending on the number of people, Mr. Cunningham made more than $5,000 in October.
The revival of freshwater recreational fishing is especially important for areas like Crescent City, which 30 years ago was a booming forestry and commercial-fishing town. "It was a very different community. There was a lot of economic activity," said Richard Young, the Crescent City harbor master and a former commercial fisherman.
The Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery on a Smith tributary, for one, counted 3,538 salmon this winter, compared with 2,775 last year and 589 in 2006. The nearby Trinity River hatchery's fall and winter salmon runs totaled 12,002, up from 9,983 a year earlier. To the south, a hatchery on the Feather River reported more than 17,000 returning adult salmon during the recent run, compared with 6,234 a year earlier.
The teeming fish runs are a turnabout from years of decline, when salmon populations were affected by dams, low rainfall and logging, which can smother salmon spawning areas with dirt. Although no one is sure why so many salmon returned this winter, some hatchery managers and others speculate heavy rain and favorable ocean conditions helped the healthy returns.
Scientists say salmon remain imperiled, and that some fish populations in California are extinct or nearing extinction. They are still trying to figure out what makes the populations fluctuate.
What is clear is that this winter's huge salmon runs have drawn legions of fishermen, creating business for fishing guides, tackle shops and motels in many small towns in the region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated anglers in California made $2.7 billion in fishing-related expenditures in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.
On remote Smith tributaries, a nonprofit group this winter offered tourists trips to see spawning fish. In drought years, some of those tributaries don't have enough water for salmon to spawn.
"It's huge for us to have a big population of fish, for our economy," said Zack Larson, a local biologist who has also worked as a fishing guide.
Still, Andy Van Scoyk, who runs the Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery, said there was reason for concern. While this winter's run was large, he said, its small proportion of juvenile fish points to a potentially weak run next winter.
