PFMC posts 2024 ocean salmon numbers review report and the numbers are not good
Summary by Kenny Priest / Fishing The North Coast
The Pacific Fishery Management Council released its “Review of 2024 Ocean Salmon Fisheries” report Wednesday, and the news was not good for the Klamath Basin.
KLAMATH RIVER: Based on an ocean abundance of 178,200 Klamath River fall Chinook thought to be swimming in the ocean last fall, forecasters predicted roughly 65,138 adults would return to the river. Unfortunately, the run fell well short of the preseason predictions. A total of 36,568 adults returned to the river. Of those, just 24,032 escaped to natural spawning areas, which was 66 percent of the preseason prediction of 36,511 adults and well below the 40,700 floor escapement goal.
The estimated hatchery adult return was 4,489 compared to 21,964 in 2023. Jack (2-year-old kings) returns to the Klamath basin were 7,085, including 5,959 that escaped to natural spawning areas. In 2023 11,673 Jacks returned to the basin.
Spawning escapement to the upper Klamath River tributaries (Salmon, Scott and Shasta rivers), where spawning was only minimally affected by hatchery strays, totaled 7,317 compared to 7,765 in 2023. The escapement in 2024 to the Shasta River was 4,951 adults. Escapement to the Salmon and Scott rivers was 1,520 and 846 adults, respectively.
The above river return and escapement numbers reflect no ocean commercial or recreational salmon fishing as well as salmon closures on both the Klamath and Trinity rivers. According to the report, an estimated 136 fall Chinook were harvested in the Klamath River basin recreational fishery in 2024. Tribal adult harvest was 7,249 (Yurok: 4,963 adults; Hoopa Valley: 2,286 adults), which was 113 percent of the tribal allocation of 6,434.
The report also states:
“In 2024, four dams were removed from the Klamath River which allowed salmon to move volitionally upstream from the site of Iron Gate Dam for the first time in many years. Newly available mainstem and tributary habitats were occupied by salmon following dam removal. Substantial monitoring efforts Oregon and California provided age-specific spawner estimates for the 2024 run. The estimated run size in the Klamath mainstem and its tributaries from of Iron Gate (California) to Keno Dam was 1,494 adults and 151 jacks in 2024.”
SACRAMENTO RIVER: In 2024, recreational angling for salmon in the Sacramento River and its tributaries was closed as well. A total of 99,274 hatchery and natural area adult spawners were estimated to have returned to the Sacramento River Basin in 2024, substantially lower than the 180,061 predicted. Fall Chinook returns to Sacramento River hatcheries in 2024 totaled 26,834 adults and 8,301 jacks, and escapement to natural areas was 72,440 adults and 10,864 jacks.
With the Klamath Dam removal project now completed, what our ocean and river salmon seasons will look like in the coming year is still a work in progress and will be flushed out in the coming weeks.
Next up is the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Annual Salmon Information Meeting, which will be held via webinar on Wednesday, Feb. 26, starting at 10 a.m. The meeting will be via webinar only and covers 2024 spawner abundances returning to the Central Valley and Klamath Basins, 2025 abundance forecasts, and management context guiding the development and implementation of 2025 ocean salmon fisheries.
Salmon information meeting details can be found on the CDFW’s Ocean Salmon web page.
Following the Salmon Information Meeting webinar, California representatives will work together to develop a range of recommended ocean fishing season alternatives at the March 5-11 Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Vancouver, WA. Click here for PFMC website.
Final season recommendations will be adopted at the Council’s April 9-15 meeting in San Jose, CA.
To make comments directly to the Pacific Fishery Management Council regarding the upcoming salmon season, visit the Council’s website at www.pcouncil.org/contact(opens in new tab), or contact the PFMC staff officer for salmon, Angela Forristall, angela.forristall@noaa.gov.
To make comments directly to the Fish and Game Commission, visit the Commission’s website at fgc.ca.gov/Contact(opens in new tab).
The range of inland salmon fishing regulation options will be discussed at the Fish and Game Commission meeting on April 16-17, in Sacramento, California with final inland season recommendations and adoption scheduled for the May 14, Teleconference meeting. CLICK HERE for the 2025 FGC meeting schedule.
PFMC Council Members
- Mr. Marc Gorelnik
Coastside Fishing Club
Telephone: (415) 409-9529
marc@gorelniklaw.com - Ms. Corey Ridings
Telephone: (206) 816-5083
coastalcoreyridings@gmail.com - Ms. Angela Forristall
Pacific Fishery Management Council Staff Officer
Main Number: (503) 820-2419 or
Toll Free: (866) 806-7204 ext. 419
angela.forristall@noaa.gov - Dr. Rebecca Lent
Telephone: (619) 261-5720
rebecca.lent@gmail.com
CDFW Salmon Advisors to the PFMC
- Ms. Marci Yaremko
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
3883 Ruffin Road, San Diego, CA 92123
Telephone: (858) 442-3004
marci.yaremko@wildlife.ca.gov - Ms. Kandice Morgenstern
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
3637 Westwind Boulevard, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Telephone: (707) 494-4621
kandice.morgenstern@wildlife.ca.gov
