The number of Chinook salmon returning to spawn in California's Sacramento River last fall reached a near-record low indicating what federal fishery regulators have called an "unprecedented collapse."

Only about 99,000 returning adult salmon were counted, a drop of more than 88 percent from the all-time high of 804,000 five years ago.

According to a statement from the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which regulates Pacific coast fisheries, the decline seems to be a coast-wide phenomenon and will impact salmon numbers here in the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Craig Foster said that while salmon numbers for Oregon and Washington are still being compiled and reviewed, there are below-average returns across the board.

"The numbers for the Northwest are not so drastic as California's Central Valley, but the general trend is certainly down from what we'd expect," Foster said.

There is some question as to what may be causing the precipitous decline in returning salmon.

"That's the $64,000 question," said ODFW's Information and Education Manager Rick Hargrave. "Some have attributed the low numbers to global warming and oceanic conditions. It's probably a combination of factors. It could be the disappearance of an important food source for the salmon. We just don't know what is going on."
Glen Spain, Northwest Regional Manager of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations, blames the low numbers on a more specific cause.

Spain says that record levels of water are being drained from the Sacramento River delta to be sent to drought-stricken areas in the southwest. His organization and other concerned agencies are drafting a "Declaration of Disaster" to be submitted to the Secretary of Commerce in an attempt to halt further draining of the delta.
"You can't take money out of the bank forever -- that leads to bankruptcy," Spain said. "What we are facing right now is biological bankruptcy."