The giveaway "is our way of saying thanks to Mother Nature for ... this spectacular harvest," said veteran Half Moon Bay fisherman Duncan MacLean, a spokesman for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

West Coast salmon returns hit bottom in 1994, when the Pacific Fishery Management Council practically had to shut down sport and commercial salmon fishing to keep from wiping out threatened and endangered runs. Over the past three years, however, the population has increased.

This year's take of wild salmon is expected to rival 1988's, when California fishermen pulled up 1.3 million fish.

In an average year, California fishermen catch between 300,000 and 400,000 fish in the Pacific, according to Chuck Tracy of the fishery management council, which regulates sport and commercial fishing in the ocean.