News Archive

After two years of closure, the recreational ocean salmon fishery will open statewide for two days on June 7-8, 2025.

On Friday, May 16, 2025, the National Marine Fisheries Service published the annual West Coast salmon fishing regulations for federal waters, including those for California’s limited ocean recreational salmon season.

While low Chinook salmon counts have called for the continued closure of Chinook salmon fishing in the Klamath River Basin and mainstem Sacramento River, Chinook fishing opportunities will be allowed in three inland Central Valley rivers for the first time in two years.

State health agencies determined that Pacific sardine sampled off Southern California contained elevated levels of domoic acid and recommended a fishery restriction for Southern California for the commercial and recreational take of sardine for human consumption in the area.

In a significant shift of California’s salmon strategy, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has begun releasing juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon from CDFW-operated hatcheries into the main stem of the Sacramento River for the first time.