California Salmon Population Dwindles

Climate change could be a factor in an 88 percent decline from five years ago. The number of chinook salmon returning to California's Central Valley has reached a near record low, pointing to an unprecedented collapse that could lead to severe restrictions on West Coast salmon fishing this year. This is according to federal fisher regulators. The sharp drop in chinook, or king salmon returning from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the Sacramento River and its tributaries this past fall is part of broader decline in wild salmon runs in rivers across the West. Only about 90,000 returning adult salmon were counted in the Central Valley in 2007, the second lowest number on record. The population of 277,000 in 2006 and 804,000 five years ago gives you an idea of the drop in numbers of salmon.