For the second year in a row, California officials are likely to shorten the chinook salmon season, making the local specialty costly and hard to find throughout the summer and possibly beyond.

With chinook salmon at its lowest population in years, West Coast fishery managers are considering a proposal to strictly limit the commercial season and to delay its start around the San Francisco Bay from its usual May date to August. A final decision will be made on Tuesday.

“You’re probably going to find it only in your upscale grocery stores and upscale restaurants, and it’s not going to be always available. It’s probably not going to be cheap,” said Dave Bitts, a Eureka fisherman and adviser to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages fisheries in the federal waters off California, Oregon and Washington.

When announced, the decision will be compounded by the council’s decision on Monday to close the Pacific sardine fishery for the third year in a row, a move that had been anticipated because of the sardines’ low population count.

Back to Gallery California likely to shorten chinook salmon season 3 1 of 3 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 2 of 3 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 3 of 3 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle





Salmon, along with Dungeness crab, is one of the largest fisheries in the region, worth $8 million in California in 2015, though often much more. The Pacific Fishery Management Council bases its recommendations on population estimates, which this year could be as low as 230,700 adult salmon for the Bay Area coast. In a good year, the population should be around 1 million. The low numbers are due to lingering effects of the drought, because impacts on the population are felt about three or four years behind years with little rain.

The most likely outcome of the council’s meeting is that California’s commercial salmon season will start on May 1 in areas south of Pigeon Point in San Mateo County and last only from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30 in the area between Pigeon Point and Point Arena in Mendocino County. Boats would be able to fish in the area between Point Arena and Horse Mountain (Humboldt County) only during September, further limiting the availability of the fish. Plus, parts of Oregon’s commercial fishery are also set to be delayed or closed.

However, the recreational salmon season did open April 1.

David Budworth of Marina Meats, a butcher shop and seafood retailer in San Francisco, said his contacts in the fishing industry have an even gloomier outlook.

“The word on the street is it is probably not going to open,” said Budworth, echoing a bit of recent fishery gossip, often called “dock talk.” Regardless of what actually happens, he’s not planning on buying any this spring or summer, because he predicts he would have to sell it at $35 to $40 a pound.

“As much as I would love to deal with the local fish, at that price it’s not even worth it,” said Budworth, who sells frozen-at-sea wild Alaska salmon year-round — not a bargain either, at $30.99 a pound currently.

Last year’s commercial salmon season in California was also limited, but not as much, and many in the salmon fleet are having to regroup in preparation for another bad season.

“It’s going to be pretty poor,” said fisherman Mike Dvorak, while crabbing Monday just off Montara. “It’s going to make making a living in the fishing industry harder.”

That said, Dvorak knew that the drought would take its toll on his ability to fish salmon, and he has been diversifying his business with charter-boat fishing and crabbing to stay in the industry.

“Over the last few years, I’ve definitely come to the conclusion that I cannot count on salmon. I’ve had a great time and made some money, but I’ve found I can’t count on it,” he said. “It used to be really consistent.”

Between 2013 and 2015, the chinook salmon harvest dropped by two-thirds, falling in value from $22.7 million to $8 million.

For home cooks who don’t fish and want to get their hands on local salmon this spring and summer, Eureka’s Bitts has some advice.

“If you see it and you like it and you can afford it, I say grab it,” said Bitts. “It might not be here next week.”

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan