Salmon fishing now at full swim

Shortened season is an upstream journey for fishermen, consumers|

Commercial salmon season finally returned to the Bay Area last Monday.

With the season originally expected to have opened in May, fishers have to hurry to catch what they can before this short season ends Sept. 30. One man’s haul included 300 pounds of salmon, with each weighing about 15 pounds, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The season was delayed for three months because of low presence of Chinook salmon on California’s coast. While the coast south of Pigeon Point opened for salmon fishing in May, the season was kept at bay from Pigeon Point in San Mateo County to Point Arena in Mendocino County – but that area is now fair game.

Some of the salmon was supposed to arrive in markets last weekend. The question is, will it be less expensive because it’s local or more expensive to make up for the fishers’ short season. Some industry sources expect prices to hit around $30 a pound at first and lower when more fish flood the market, if they do. As of Monday night, Sonoma Market had “King salmon from Bodega” at $29.99 a pound, according to the fish counter staffer.

Overall, the salmon population off the coast is currently about 230,000 salmon, instead of a “good year” norm of more than 1 million fish.

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