Facing the continued collapse of Chinook salmon, officials shut down California's commercial salmon fishing season for an unprecedented third year in a row.

Under the decision by an interstate fisheries agency, recreational salmon fishing will be allowed in California for only brief windows of time.

This year's recreational season includes a weekend in June and another in July, or a quota of 7,000 fish.

This will be the first year that any sport fishing of Chinook in California has been allowed since 2022.

The decline of California salmon stems from nearly two centuries of damage inflicted on the rivers where salmon spend the first and final stages of their lives.

California salmon are an ecological icon and a valued source of food for Native American tribes.

Through much of the 20th century, California Salmon Fishery formed the economic backbone of coastal fishing ports, with fishers using hook and line pulling in millions of pounds in good years.

This shutdown has already put hundreds of commercial fishers and sport fishing boat operators out of work and affected thousands of people and communities and industries reliant on processing, selling, and serving locally caught salmon.

State officials recognizing the risk of extinction have promoted salmon recovery as a policy goal for years.

However, Scott Artis of the Golden State Salmon Association said while the state's salmon strategy includes some important items, it leaves out equally critical steps such as protecting minimum flows for fish.

It fails to include some of the upcoming salmon-killing projects that the governor is pushing like Sites Reservoir and the Delta Tunnel, and it ignores the fact that the voluntary agreements are designed to allow massive diversions of water, he said.

Some experts fear the conditions in California have been so poor for so long that Chinook may never rebound to fishable levels.

Others remain hopeful for major recovery if the amounts of water diverted to farms and cities are reduced and wetlands kept dry by flood control levees are restored.

For CalMatters, I'm Alistair Bland.