News Room

CDFW announces multiple changes to recreational rockfish sub-bag limits which are expected to take effect Jan. 6, 2022. The emergency regulations were adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission in mid-December to align with federal regulations for these species.

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At its December meeting, the California Fish and Game Commission acted on several issues affecting California’s natural resources. The following are just a few items of interest from this week’s meeting.

CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham has closed the recreational razor clam fishery in Del Norte County following a recommendation from the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which, in consultation with the California Department of Public Health, determined that the consumption of razor clams taken from Del Norte County poses a significant threat for domoic acid exposure.

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.

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.

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.

On Nov. 10, OR93 was found dead near Interstate 5 near the town of Lebec, California. Following a full investigation and necropsy, CDFW has determined that the wolf died from trauma consistent with vehicular strike and does not suspect foul play.

Humpback whales have migrated out of Fishing Zones 1 and 2 and crabs there have passed quality testing, which means that the commercial fishery north of the Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the Oregon state line will open on Dec. 1, giving commercial crabbers the opportunity to get crab on tables and menus before the year is out.