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A February report by the fishery council found that in 2023 just over 6,100 fall-run Chinook, often known as king salmon, returned to the upper Sacramento River to spawn.

Puget Sound Chinook, or king salmon, were first listed under the ESA 24 years ago.

As the sun set and Seattle’s skyline flicked on from the shore behind them, Richard Penn and his daughter Leslie Starr rifled through layers of green mesh netting to free a silvery, fat king salmon.

“Everyone is fighting each other for the last king salmon,” said Mark Stopha, a retired fish biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game and a longtime fish seller in Juneau, Alaska.

It has been an up-and-down year for Aadsen and other fishers who pilot their boats out of this port each June and head to the waters of Sitka, Alaska, to catch Chinook, or king salmon.