Salmon season dead—again

There will be no commercial king salmon fishing off the coast of California and Oregon again this year, federal fisheries managers announced April 8. The cause: a record low number of fish returning to spawn last year. Only 66,000 salmon adults returned to the Sacramento River last year, compared to more than 750,000 in 2002.

This is the second year in a row fishing has been nixed. Congress approved a $170 million relief package last year to tide over struggling fishermen and related businesses. Of that, about $50 million has been set aside in anticipation of this year’s ruling.