A federal regulatory group voted Thursday to officially close king salmon fishing season along much of the West Coast after near-record low numbers of the fish, also known as chinook, returned to California's rivers last year.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the closure of the 2023 season for all commercial and most recreational chinook fishing along the coast from Cape Falcon in northern Oregon to the California-Mexico border. Limited recreational salmon fishing will be allowed off southern Oregon in the fall.

"The forecasts for Chinook returning to California rivers this year are near record lows," Council Chair Marc Gorelnik said after the vote in a news release. "The poor conditions in the freshwater environment that contributed to these low forecasted returns are unfortunately not something that the Council can, or has authority to, control."

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Biologists say the chinook salmon population has declined dramatically after years of drought. Many in the fishing industry say Trump-era rules that allowed more water to be diverted from the Sacramento River Basin to agriculture caused even more harm.

The closure applies to adult fall-run chinook and deals a blow to the Pacific Northwest's salmon fishing industry.

Much of the salmon caught off Oregon originate in California’s Klamath and Sacramento rivers. After hatching in freshwater, they spend three years on average maturing in the Pacific, where many are snagged by commercial fishermen, before migrating back to their spawning grounds, where conditions are more ideal to give birth. After laying eggs, they die.

The council is an advisory group to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, which makes the final decision, but historically has followed the council's rulings. The secretary's decision will be posted in the Federal Register within days.

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Experts fear native California salmon are in a spiral toward extinction. Already California’s spring-run chinook are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, while winter-run chinook are endangered along with the Central California Coast coho salmon, which has been off-limits to California commercial fishers since the 1990s.

Recreational fishing is expected to be allowed in Oregon only for coho salmon during the summer and for chinook after Sept. 1. Salmon season is expected to open as usual north of Cape Falcon, including in the Columbia River and off Washington’s coast.

Though the closure will affect tens of thousands of jobs, few are opposed to it. Many fishers say they want to take action now to guarantee healthy stocks in the future.

They hope the unusually wet winter in California that has mostly freed the state of drought will bring relief. An unprecedented series of powerful storms has replenished most of California’s reservoirs, dumping record amounts of rain and snow and busting a severe three-year drought. But too much water running through the rivers could kills eggs and young hatchlings.

A 6-year-old Texas boy whose mother has given various stories to explain his absence since last fall is believed to be dead, police said Thursday.

Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez was last seen around the time his mother gave birth to twin girls in October, Everman police Chief Craig Spencer said at a news conference. He said searches for the boy's body have been focused near the family's home in Everman, located just south of Fort Worth.

Around the time that Noel was last seen, he was described as "appearing unhealthy and malnourished," Spencer said. On March 31, arrest warrants on charges of abandoning and endangering a child were issued for the boy's mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, and her husband, Arshdeep Singh.

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They are believed to have flown to India on March 22 along with six children. Two days earlier, police had been asked by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to do a welfare check on the children at the couple's home. During that visit, Rodriguez-Singh told officers that Noel was staying with family in Mexico.

Spencer said that Rodriguez-Singh "has been known by relatives to be abusive and neglectful to Noel." Also, he said, investigators learned through interviews that Rodriguez-Singh had referred to Noel as "evil, possessed or having a demon in him" and believed he'd harm the twins.

Police have said that Noel suffers from numerous physical and developmental challenges.

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"Relatives and witnesses stated that food and water were often withheld from Noel because Cindy did not like changing Noel's dirty diapers," Spencer said. "A relative even witnessed Cindy strike Noel in the face with keys because he drank water."

Spencer said that on Nov. 1, 2022, Rodriguez-Singh got passport photos for all of the children living with her except for Noel. And then, the next day, she applied for passports for herself and all of the children except for Noel.

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Spencer said that in November, Rodriguez-Singh began to try to explain Noel's absence with "various stories," including that he was either with his biological father or aunt in Mexico, or that she'd sold him to a woman in a grocery store parking lot. Spencer said that investigators have looked into all of those stories and none were true.