Fishermen on the wharf still hurting from lack of salmon season

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION-TV) - Fishermen on the wharf are still feeling the hit of not being able to commercial fish for salmon.

Salmon fishing, recreationally and commercially, has been banned for the last three years by the California Fish and Wildlife to help the salmon repopulate.

"Shops, fishing, you know, tackle shops and mom and pop shops, the restaurants....it impacts everyone," Tuk Su Yi, the owner of F/V Papa Son fishing company, said.

The CFWD allowed recreational fishing or "fishing for sport" twice this year, but commercial fishing was not, which hurt fishermen on the wharf.

"A lot of places are closing down and we're barely, you know, squeaking by and it's tough times right now," Yi said.

Despite this, some excited fisherman utilized their few days this month to cast for salmon for the first time in years.

"People really get excited for fishing like, especially salmon fishing," Yi said.

Yi said it is just as important to fishermen for the fish to be at a healthy population, and that the fishermen work with the fisheries to stay up to date on the latest things they should know about the fish.

He also said watching the few days on the wharf where the CFWD allowed recreational fishing created a special kind of energy and excitement.

"All these business owners and fisherman.... Salmon is the bread-and-butter lifestyle of fishing," Yi said. "It's the coolest thing is to go to a restaurant and eat the fish that you caught and sold to them."

But it's not just the fisherman on the wharf hurting; the restaurants are too.

"We still get the Alaskan salmon but right now there's no there's no salmon," Jorge Cuaderno, a Crab House Seafood Grill waiter, said. "There's nothing to catch."