10 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 8-14, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com NEWS Few fish species are as emblematic of the freshwater-to-saltwater connection as the Chinook salmon, who start their lives in rivers and streams before migrating out to the ocean to feed, and then travel back to the river to spawn. It’s a dramatic journey, one imperiled by many hazards and predators (humans among them), as well as the impacts of climate change. So it’s perhaps no surprise that, for the third consecutive year, California’s beloved commercial Chinook salmon fishery has been canceled. Chinook are one of the largest salmon in the Pacific, and face growing threats from low river levels, wildfires, harmful algal blooms and more. Drought years are especially devastating: warmer summers heat shallow rivers, effectively cooking vulnerable salmon eggs without the insulating buffer of deeper, cooler water. However, this year marks a small return. The window for recreational Chinook salmon fishing will open for the first time since 2022, though only for two days in summer: June 7-8. The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages West Coast fisheries, has capped the catch at 7,000 salmon statewide. If that cap isn’t met, another two-day window will open July 5-6. A fall season is also scheduled for Sept. 4-7 with a 7,500-salmon cap; if not met, the fishery will reopen Sept. 29-30. “Salmon are extremely resilient,” says Kandice Morgenstern, an environmental scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “They come back really quickly if they just get the conditions that they need. We could have healthy fisheries in the somewhat near future, but we’re not going to know what each year is looking like until we see those fish return in the fall.” Taking Stock For the first time since 2022, the recreational Chinook salmon fishing window will open. By Katie Rodriguez The last days of a semester can be stressful for a college student, who must balance prepping final presentations, studying for exams and making plans for summer. For many CSU Monterey Bay students, this semester has an added stressor: They may not have a place to live next semester. Changes in the application process, increased demand and a glitch in the system are causing anger and frustration among students. On April 28, a newly unveiled otter statue on campus was vandalized. It was wrapped in toilet paper and tagged with black ink with phrases such as “fix housing” and “money hungry fucks,” alluding to the housing woes students were facing. The same day, CSUMB President Vanya Quiñones condemned the vandalism: “Actions such as these divide our community and are not in alignment with our Cal State Monterey Bay values of engaging in respectful and productive dialogues,” she wrote. The next day, Quiñones addressed housing challenges in a follow-up email to the campus community. “The current housing demand reflects broader trends that extend beyond the housing department’s control, and it highlights the exciting growth and evolving needs of our university community,” she wrote. Factors include increased enrollment, students with a disability seeking special accommodations, and housing prices in the region. “Our goal remains clear—to do everything we can to help ensure our students have access to campus housing.” CSUMB announced on social media that as of May 2, it cleared its housing waiting list and encouraged students to check their emails. But Luis Sedano, 20, a sophomore who switched his major to accounting, says he doesn’t have accommodations for next semester as of May 5. Sedano says he and about six other students were added to a waiting list, but didn’t have a number. “We’re just told that we’re on a waitlist, that’s all,” he says. “I thought that things would go pretty well for us until Friday, when CSUMB posted [on Instagram] that they had cleared everyone off the waitlist, but there were some of us that still hadn’t gotten housing.” Sedano was hoping to stay on campus but is now looking for alternatives, such as staying with relatives in Salinas. But without a car, that could add about an hour commute each way. Since demand has climbed over the years, CSUMB will no longer require sophomores to stay in campus housing next year. (Since 1995, CSUMB required full-time freshmen and sophomores to live in campus housing.) The school is also lodging more students per unit and considering shortterm hotel lodging. It also started renovations of Gavilan Hall that will increase housing stock in the fall. CSUMB offers housing to more than 50 percent of its student body. That’s higher than the CSU average, which is 14 percent as of fall 2023, according to a state analysis. According to the student newspaper The Lutrinae, CSUMB moved away from a unit-based priority system (students with more units ranked higher on the list) to a queuing system similar to Ticketmaster. Students called for a protest on May 1 in front of the housing office. More than a dozen showed up and sat on the grass, while many others were celebrating Otter Thursday in front of the Otter Student Union. CSUMB’s new otter statue was unveiled on April 17, then vandalized 11 days later with references to a campus housing shortage. Home Work Frustrations mount for students looking for housing on CSU Monterey Bay’s campus. By Celia Jiménez For the third consecutive year, the Chinook salmon (also known as king salmon) commercial fishing season will be closed. The last commercial season was 2022, shown above. “Actions such as these divide our community.” DANIEL DREIFUSS DANIEL DREIFUSS
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