Commentary by Samuel Strait – March 17, 2023 While I am sure that most of those that depend on a yearly salmon season will have heard, California has elected to close the salmon season for 2023, with most of Oregon following along. While most would assume that it was the State's Fish and Game Department that was instrumental in calling for the closure. It appears; however, that the fishermen were part and parcel of that decision, citing low returns to the major salmon producing rivers along the Pacific Coast. This appears not to affect the Northern Coast of Oregon and Washington where a different specie, COHO salmon are the major population and are in sufficient numbers to warrant a season. The impact on local fishermen will be substantial and likely to elicit a declaration of a emergency to cover the loss of income many will sustain in 2023. The other fallout will be a substantially reduced fresh salmon market for sea food suppliers, restaurants, and associated businesses. Generally a devastating impact for many coastal communities which depend on a robust salmon season for a substantial portion of their spring and summer income. While the current closure is set for 2023, even the loss of a single season will translate into a ripple effect that will last for several years in the future. We are being told that the current closure is a result of several years of drought, enviro-speak for "Climate Change", something the Sacramento government has been pushing for years. This was likely to give cover to all who are spinning the idea that the decline of the salmon population began in the last few years. The problem with that explanation is that the decline of the salmon population began in the 1970's and accelerated after 1990, well before the recent staging of the drought as caused by Climate Change. Studies have revealed that overfishing in the Atlantic prior to WWI and WWII were reversed during the war years to restore the population when fishing did not occur. Overfishing in the Pacific Ocean began to pick up steam in the 1970's primarily in the Eastern Pacific to feed burgeoning populations of China, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. When salmon are caught in large numbers by the factory trawl fishing of those nations, few salmon are able to return to the Pacific Coast rivers and as a consequence smaller returning populations to spawn result in fewer salmon returning to the ocean. Not rocket science. While the closure might be necessary, it will have a very small impact on the returning salmon population until the overfishing of foreign nations is brought under control. This may be the beginning of a rather bleak future for the salmon fishery for years to come, as even if foreign fishing fleets were brought under control, restoration will not happen for years. Talking about drought merely deflects from the actual problem with the fishery and will not affect positive change. That will only happen on the international level.