By AMY TAXIN | Associated Press

William Smith has long fished the California coast for salmon, taking avid anglers out on his boat in hopes they’ll get to wrestle with and reel in the prized catch.

But not anymore.

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Smith, known as “Capt. Smitty,” now spends time on the seas with aspiring , or scattering the ashes of the deceased — whatever it takes to stay afloat since salmon fishing was barred in California two years ago due to dwindling stocks. Smith said a rise in the Bay Area’s Hindu and Buddhist communities has made sea burials more popular, and he now does more than 200 a year — and that’s helping him pay off his $250,000 boat engine.

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