Historic Central Valley Salmon Restoration Agreements
SALMON: Early Progress, Later Declines, Future Failure
By Tom Cannon/ thomascannon0@gmail.com
In the 1990s there were a series of regulatory agreements among state and federal agencies and water contractors that led to new water quality standards and programs to recover Central Valley salmon. Salmon populations had plummeted during the 1987-1992 drought. Because of the many actions under the agreements (e.g., CVPIA, CALFED, 4-Pumps, VAMP, BayDelta Plan, COAs, and ESA recovery plans) many of the salmon runs recovered by the turn of the century (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Central Valley salmon escapement 1952-2024. Three year running average are red dots. Note 2024 escapement tabulation is incomplete as of May 2025.
The recovery was short-lived when during and following recent droughts (2007-2009, 2013-2015, and 2020-2022) the salmon runs again dropped dramatically. Changes from 2000 included reduced hatchery production, lower Delta outflow, lower river flows and associated higher water temperatures, reduced fall flows that caused redd dewatering below Shasta/Keswick, more disease, and higher fishery exploitation rates.
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