SAN FRANCISCO -- California's commercial salmon fishermen's season has been drastically effected by restrictions aimed at protecting endangered fish on the Klamath River, but now emerging technology is promising to help this age-old way of life.

It's a breakthrough fishermen like Mike Hudson say they have long awaited.

When Mike Hudson signed up for a career in fishing, he figured he'd spend his life with the wind at his back and fish in his net, but he said lately that's not how things have worked out.

"This year is definitely the worst fishing season we've ever seen," he said. "Last year wasn't all that great either."

Despite a bounty of salmon in the ocean this year, Hudson's boat hasn't seen many fish.

"We were counting on catching some fish to make the place pay and we're just barely squeaking by," he said.

The reason for Hudson's woes is that the federal government shut down most of California's current salmon season to protect the low number of salmon on the Klamath River.

What frustrates him the most, he said, is that at the same time, other rivers like the Sacramento have filled the ocean with an abundance of salmon.

"The fish swim together in the ocean and we can't tell them apart. So there's no way to tell: 'Oh, this fish is the Klamath fish ... I'll throw him back this fish is a Sacramento fish I'll keep him,''' Hudson said.

Hudson now has hope on the horizon with a cutting-edge technology attempting to save a sinking industry that's survived for more than a century.

Scientist Carlos Garza and his team at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Santa Cruz are something of a high tech cavalry coming to the rescue. The team has begun collecting DNA samples from salmon caught across the bay area.

With just a tiny sliver of fin, researchers are able to extract a large amount of information.

"Those genetic differences allow us to use a DNA fingerprint to determine a river of origin of an individual fish," N.O.O.A. Scientist, Carlos Garza, said.

The team said they plan to use that information to create maps showing where the endangered salmon gather.

Garza said the DNA sampling could also help fishery managers make day-to-day decisions on where fishermen could fish.

"We can direct fishermen to areas where they're not catching protected salmon and focus their fishery efforts on the more abundant populations of salmon," he said.

The group began the pilot study this season and it plans to expand the program next year.

Now even the fishing industry, which was once skeptical of DNA testing, is now embracing the technology.

"We could have a billion-dollar industry if it wasn't for the problems that the Klamath fish have," Hudson said.

The researchers said it could be several years before their results are used to make fishery decisions. In the meantime, Hudson says it's a few more years he'll have to hang on.