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North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman today issued a statement in response to the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s recent decision to shut down California’s commercial salmon fishing season for the third year in a row, in an effort to help Chinook salmon populations rebound from deteriorating ecological conditions. The “unprecedented” move could have “devastating impacts” on the coastal communities and fishermen who depend on the salmon season to stay afloat, Huffman said.

Read the full statement below.

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Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) released the following statement regarding the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s vote to cancel salmon fishing season in California:

“Coastal towns, river communities, and thousands of salmon fishery employees depend on the salmon season to generate income and stay afloat – and now, for the third year in a row, they’ve been dealt another devastating impact with an unprecedented closure of the 2025 salmon season. The last two years of closures have devastated California’s coastal economies – and facing a third consecutive closure marks an unprecedented low point. Our slipping environmental conditions are to blame for this economic disaster: we are seeing dangerously low ocean abundance forecasts for the Sacramento River Fall-Run Chinook Salmon, and Trump’s extremist agenda is only going to worsen this already developing crisis,” said Rep. Huffman.

“Trump has vowed to slash current environmental protections even further – which could result in more irresponsible water management during droughts and ultimately, additional salmon season closures in the future. It’s completely unacceptable – and while I’m relieved that I’ve been able to pass reforms in Congress for federal disaster relief, the amount of disaster money secured is not nearly enough to sustain the needs of fishermen, tribes, businesses, and families who depend on healthy salmon fisheries. Now entering this third canceled season, we will have to restart this process for federal funding once again and keep pushing the state to speed up its own process for quantifying impacts,” Rep. Huffman continued.

“While I will continue fighting to bring these state and federal efforts home, this scramble for disaster relief is an unsustainable and insufficient solution to the downward spiral that California salmon fisheries are facing, and have been facing for years now. Instead, we need to implement mechanisms to prevent fishery disasters in the first place. And to do that, we need to confront the irresponsible policies that are killing salmon – including failing to protect cold water supplies, starving rivers and tributaries of flows salmon need to survive, and over-pumping in the Delta during sensitive times for migrating salmon. Trump’s environmental policies are only going to worsen these already compromised conditions, and I will keep doing everything I can in Congress to prevent his agenda from impacting our coastal communities here in California,” Huffman concluded.