News Room

Fishing Zone 4 (Pigeon Point to Lopez Point) will open for recreational Dungeness crab trap fishing under a Fleet Advisory beginning at 9 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2021. The commercial fishery will open in Zone 4 under a Fleet Advisory and Depth Constraint at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2021, with a pre-soak period to begin at 8:01 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2021.

A five-month-long investigation on a commercial lobster poaching suspect concluded with a conviction in Los Angeles County Superior Court, CDFW announced.

The CDFW 2022 Warden Stamp is now available for purchase online.

Eight chimpanzees that were living at the now-closed Wildlife Waystation wild animal sanctuary near Los Angeles have been moved to the Center for Great Apes in Florida.

CDFW will be at the Emerald Cup Harvest Ball in Sonoma County on Dec. 11 and 12.

A Tehama County man has pleaded guilty to deer poaching charges stemming from an August 2020 poaching investigation. Kaden Pearce, 23, of Red Bluff, killed a large buck (male deer) in a local walnut orchard where he did not have legal permission to hunt. He then falsified the location information when he reported the deer harvest on his deer tag as required by hunting regulations.

If you’re looking for the perfect present for the angler in your life, CDFW reminds holiday shoppers that beginning Jan. 1, anglers 16 years of age and older will need a new annual sport fishing license to take or pursue any fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, reptile or amphibian in California (including catch-and-release fishing) in the 2022 calendar year. Though the 365-day license is definitely part of California’s angling future thanks to AB 817, there are some further steps needed to bring the option online.

At 11:59 a.m. tomorrow the fisheries closure that was implemented following the Southern California oil spill will be lifted. Fishing can resume midday tomorrow.

December 2021 California Department of Fish and Wildlife Calendar

CDFW will reopen the Ocean Ranch Unit within the Eel River Wildlife Area to waterfowl hunting and other public access beginning Wednesday, Dec. 1 as the majority of habitat restoration work taking place there winds down for the year.