After two years of closure, fishing boats will fish for salmon fishing on the California coast this weekend as recreational fishing resumes under strict restrictions.

Coastal salmon fishing is prohibit In 2023 and 2024, in order to help the population decline over the years. Although commercial fishing has been cancelled for the third consecutive year, fishery regulators have recently Decide To allow for limited seasons of recreational fishing on certain dates and strict quotas.

“We are all very excited,” said William “Captain Smitty” Smith, who is preparing for the Riptide charter boat Riptide on Pillar Point Harbour in Half Moon Bay. “There is a lot of buzz around the port and everyone is ready for it.”

Smith and his two decks are buying baits, preparing hooks, Nets and other gear to fish 18 passengers Saturday and Sunday. He said limited fishing will be allowed within a few hours announced in April, “My regulars have called and basically filled the boat.”

Smith, 71, has been in the franchise ship business for 50 years. The last time he was able to take passengers to fish was in 2022.

As his business has struggled for the past two years, he turned to other types of outings to make ends meet, including fishing, catching rocks, leading whales to watch trips and funerals buried at sea, where mourners spread the ashes of loved ones.

He said the angler was "going away." Everyone can catch up to two fish a day.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife is Limit marine fishing under quotas In two windows in summer and autumn. The first is scheduled to open Saturday to Sunday and allows up to 7,000 salmon to be caught throughout the state.

If this number of fish is not reached on the opening weekend, salmon fishing is allowed until subsequent extensions to July 5-6, July 31-August until the limit is reached. 3 and August 25-31.

In addition to Half Moon Bay, fishing boats are expected to depart from other ports in Central and Northern California this weekend, such as Morro Bay, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg.

“Accusing the 2-year marine salmon fishery closure and the short term of this fishing period, anglers are expected to be involved very high.” announcement. “Aggressors should prepare for crowds and long waiting times on public launch ramps and docks and consider travel, parking and launch ramp conditions when planning is completed.”

The agency said fishing will reopen in the fall of certain areas, including from Reyes in southern Marin County to Reyes near Half Moon Bay, and from Sur there in Sur in Big Sur in Big Sur — 7,500 Chinook salmon in a separate harvest restriction guide.

The fishing industry depends on Chinook in the fall, which migrates upstream from July to December to laying eggs. For decades, government-run hatcheries in the Central Valley have raised and released millions of salmon every year to help increase their numbers.

Other salmon running suffered a more severe decline. Under the Endangered Species Act, Chinooks who operate in the spring are listed as threatened, while Chinooks who operate in the winter are on the verge of extinction.

Biologists say the decline in salmon populations is due to the combination of a variety of factors, including dams, that have prevented spawning areas, the loss of important floodplain habitats, and global warming, which are exacerbating droughts and causing higher temperatures in rivers.

During the severe 2020-22 drought, the water from the dam sometimes becomes so warm that salmon eggs are deadly. Although the drought is a major factor in the decline in salmon population, people working in fishing have also accused California water managers and policies, saying they have pumped too much water from farms and cities and deprived enough cold water when the salmon needs it.

Smith said he would like to see “responsible water management”, with state officials prioritizing river fish, and efforts Restore floodplain and improve hatchery operations.

Since salmon usually feed in the ocean for about three years and then return to their birthstream, the reduction in the number of juvenile fish that survived during the drought reduced the number of adult fish. Scientists expect the population to be Improved Next year, thanks to their uplift in the historic wet winter of 2023, although they also warn that the situation facing California salmon is still terrible.

Smith said one last year’s change of hope was last year’s Four dams were removed On the Klamas River in northern California, it enables salmon to reach the upstream spawning area that has been sealed for more than a century.

"I have great hope for our future," he said, also considering his 13-year-old grandson and the next generation.

"I wish my grandson had a fishing industry. I wish he could experience the thrill of fishing in the ocean."