April 24, 2018 – Commercial salmon fishing in the Monterey Bay is set to start next Tuesday, May 1, but the season looks to be one of the shortest ever—just 18 days.
“Some of the local fisherman have decided it’s not worth gearing up and are planning to stick with fishing for black cod or crabbing,” says Charlie Lambert, who runs the CSF Ocean2Table with fellow fisherman Ian Cole.
The California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has set the full season for May 1-7 and June 19-30 for waters from Pigeon Point south to the Mexican border. Last year the season for local king salmon was two months long, but normally it runs for at least three months.
“It’s kind of frustrating, Myself and a lot of the other fishermen are scratching our heads,” says Lambert. “Some folks think it shouldn’t have been opened at all and speculate that it was only done to avoid paying fisherman disaster relief.”
Authorities are restricting the season to help replenish the salmon fishery, which was greatly affected by the drought two years ago when salmon were unable to reach their spawning grounds. But Lambert says damming of streams and waterways is also to blame.
He says the recreational salmon season that started earlier this month has been “hit and miss” with some anglers finding luck just south of Moss Landing.
“It takes a lot of man-hours and costs about $1,000 to switch over from crabbing to salmon fishing,” Lambert says. “But some people are still going to go for it because there is such a high demand for local king salmon and fishermen are banking on getting a good bang for their buck.” After the short Monterey Bay season, the boats will likely move north to Half Moon Bay or Mendocino, where there are fewer restrictions.
Meantime restaurants in the Monterey Bay area are trying to pre-order salmon from some of the local boats, but the price per pound is sure to be high this year.
Ocean2Table is hoping to get some of the catch to offer to its members. Since launching it’s Community Supported Fishery service three years ago, Ocean2Table has expanded to 40 pick-up locations throughout Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. A portion of their profits every year is donated to the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project.
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At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
