News Archive

CDFW will open the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in the Central Management Area (Sonoma/Mendocino County line to Point Conception beginning January 5, 2026.

In a move to protect red abalone populations that have suffered drastic population decline, the California Fish and Game Commission at its Dec. 10-11 meeting extended the red abalone recreational fishery closure 10 years. The Commission also approved listing Bear Lake buckwheat as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act and received the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s status review report for mountain lion in the central coast and southern parts of California.

After years of discussion and consideration of public comment and scientific research, the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) did not approve a proposed regulation amendment to set a maximum size limit for recreational striped bass fishing. This decision and regulatory action affecting California’s natural resources took place at the Commission’s October 8-9 meeting in Sacramento.

The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) has approved the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan, a living document that aims to conserve western Joshua trees pressured by habitat loss and a warming climate. Other matters acted on by the Commission at its Aug. 13-14 meeting include designating Quino checkerspot butterfly as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), and adopting emergency regulations to reopen recreational rockfish, cabezon, greenling and lingcod fisheries north of Point Conception.

The California Fish and Game Commission adopted emergency changes to the state’s groundfish regulations so that recreational ocean fisheries are no longer constrained by quillback rockfish.