Chinook salmon not king anymore?

If you go fishing this summer and catch a fat salmon, you might have to toss it back or else run the risk of getting fined.
Declining numbers of Chinook, or king salmon, have caused federal fishery agencies to start thinking about the possibility of closing down salmon fishing in California entirely this year, according to the Times.The Pacific Fishery Management Council unanimously approved the future vote of three options on dealing with the dilemma, closing down salmon fishing being one of those options. The council will meet next month to make a final recommendation to federal regulators. The National Marine Fisheries Service would then have to approve the closure for it to go through.
This would be the first time in the state’s history the salmon fishing season would be closed.
Salmon have dropped from a fresh normal season in 2002 of about 800,000 to about only 60,000 salmon that are expected to spawn this fall.
Mounting concerns of global warming surrounds much of the declining restaurant favorite, in addition to highly contaminated ocean waters, rising sea levels and declining fresh water, such as in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
In the past few years, the state has been increasing efforts to help bring back the Delta smelt, commonly used for bait that has nearly disappeared.
But the declining salmon numbers has caused some scientists to take another look at the approach of trying to regulate the fishing industry, that maybe such bigger fish are more of a concern and local governments should have been trying to keep an eye on rather then the tiny smelt.
Some scientists say the cause of the low number of salmon is due to changing ocean conditions that have taken away their food source. The National Marine Fisheries scientists say the winds have caused currents to shift statewide, unsettling nutrients, a possible link to global warming.
Others say it is because of urban run-off from streets, sewage waste, and pesticides from nearby farming operations in the San Joaquin valley, one of the largest farming locations in the state.
According to the Times, much of the criticism is due to exporting water from the river delta, north to south, the same cause as the smelt.
But because of the smelt, the federal government recently cut the exportation of water down to a fifth.
Check out this video of the Somona County Water Agency and how agencies didn't know about the effects of water distribution in the Russian River that has possibly been a contributing factor to the declining salmon.
In other states salmon decline has been attributed to the fish having both sexual organs, or low sperm count or testosterone levels, some say is due to chemicals from farms such as in Florida.