CA Commercial Salmon Fishing Closed for Third Year, Very Limited Sport Season Allowed

For the third year in a row, the commercial salmon fishing season on the ocean will be shut down in California, due to the collapse of the once robust Sacramento and Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon populations.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), the body that oversees ocean fishery management on the West Coast, made the decision at its meeting in San Jose today.  

The PFMC did approve a very restricted salmon season for recreational anglers on the ocean in the Klamath Management Zone, Fort Bragg, San Francisco and Monterey regions with a few days at a time open until a quota is reached.

“It is anticipated that the National Marine Fisheries Service will take regulatory action to enact the fishing alternative, effective in mid-May,” according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “In addition, the California Fish and Game Commission will discuss inland salmon fisheries at its April 16-17 meeting in Sacramento and is expected to take final action at its May 14 teleconference meeting.”

The 2025 recreational ocean salmon season dates for the California coast are as follows:

• For ocean waters between the Oregon/California state line and the U.S/Mexico border, the season will open June 7-8, with a 7,000 Chinook summer harvest guideline. If the limit is not attained in those two days, the fishery will open again July 5-6. Additional dates are available in late July and August for use until the summer harvest guideline is attained. 
• For ocean waters between Point Reyes and Point Sur (portions of the San Francisco and Monterey subareas), the fall fishing season will open September 4-7, with a 7,500 Chinook fall harvest guideline. If this guideline is not attained, the fishery will reopen September 29-30. Additional days are available in October between Point Reyes to Pigeon Point if any of the fall harvest guideline remains.

“After years of full closure for salmon fishing, the opportunity for limited recreational salmon fishing brings hope,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham in a statement. “We know, however, that this news brings little relief for California’s commercial salmon fisheries. Salmon populations are still recovering from severe drought and other climate challenges and have not yet benefitted from our consecutive years of wet winters and other actions taken to boost populations.”

Representatives of the salmon fishing industry commented on the dramatic impact the complete closure of the commercial salmon fishery and the very limited recreational season will have on fishing families.

“A third year without fishing is a serious blow to California’s commercial salmon fleet,” said George Bradshaw, President of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations. “We were optimistic about a return to salmon fishing for California’s fleet, but the reality is, the low abundance and return estimates will not provide the economic impact we need. The risk of fishing this depleted population is simply not worth the reward.”

A complete disaster for salmon industry

“This is really a complete disaster for the California fishing industry,” said Scott Artis, Executive Director of the Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA). “It’s so disheartening. This is the third year of fishing families being without any work.”

“The complete closure is devastating for the commercial fishing industry,” he said. “A token recreational fishing season provides a much needed lifeline for tackle and other businesses that rely directly or indirectly on the salmon season, but the sad part is it’s a  limited season. Businesses can’t live off a few days of fishing in a year.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has continually blamed the drought, climate change, changes in ocean forage habits and other factors for causing the collapse in salmon populations.

However, Artis noted that during the last drought, excessive water diversions for industrial agribusiness led to lethal water temperatures and “disastrously low flows” in the Sacramento River and its tributaries.

“This directly led to the killing of baby salmon before they could reach the ocean,” said Artis. “Bad water decisions made three years ago by the state and federal governments led to the collapse of the 2025 salmon fishery.”

“So without being able to solve the problem of the lack of cold water  in our rivers at the times needed for salmon, the governor and the state of California are going to drive salmon fishing to extinction,” he said. 

Southwick Associates estimated in 2012 that commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California from 2004 through 2006 generated $1.4 billion and 23,000 jobs. They estimated that if the salmon were restored to the full potential, the salmon fishing industry in California would generate $5.7 billion in jobs and 94,000 jobs. 

“We’re not even mentioning environmental impact. The closure will be a devastating blow to the fishing industry, salmon families, the economy and the environment,” he stated.

“Leaving some cold water in rivers at times the young salmon are out migrating would be a start in the right direction. We need to have the State Water Resources Control Board demand cold water releases by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation into the river from upstream dams,” Artis argued.

He also noted that the state and federal salmon hatcheries remain a “vital lifeline” until wild salmon runs are able to recover. His group has been working with the state and federal fish hatcheries for years to improve salmon survival.

“I urge continued investment in modernization including increased production of juvenile salmon, varied fish release strategies and implementation of genetic tagging to sustain salmon in the fishing economy,” said Artis. 

Newsom promotes salmon-killing Delta Tunnel and Sites Reservoir

The problem right now is that despite the salmon closures and the collapse of Delta fish populations, including the nearly extinct Delta smelt, the Governor is going in the opposite direction — promoting increased deliveries of water to corporate agribusiness interests like Stewart and Lynda Resnick, owners of the Wonderful Company and the largest orchard fruit growers in the world, according to fish advocates.

“We’ve already had excessive water diversions. The solution is not more salmon killing projects like Gavin Newsom’s Sites Reservoir and  Delta Tunnel that will take even more water from our salmon rivers in California,” Artis concluded.

Newsom and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) constantly claim the purpose of the tunnel is to increase “water reliability” and not to increase water exports from the Delta. 

Yet testimony by a DWR engineer submitted to a State Water Resources Control Board hearing on the Delta Conveyance Project tells a much different story. His testimony reveals that the project will indeed maximize deliveries from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, “accelerating the death spiral of the already beleaguered estuary,” according to an analysis by the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN).

The testimony of DWR engineer Amardeep Singh states that the DCP will increase water deliveries from the Delta by 22%.

“DCP operation will not decrease water supply for Central Valley Project (CVP) contractors and will increase water supply for SWP Table A contractors by 22 percent,” he states on page 2 of his testimony.

Then on page 20 of his testimony, Singh again clearly states, “Finally, DCP operation will not decrease water supply for CVP contractors and will increase water supply for SWP Table A contractors by 22 percent.”

Moreover, during drought periods when fish are already strained by low flows and high temperatures, the DCP would increase deliveries by 24%: static1.squarespace.com/…

Closure based on low Sacramento & Klamath abundance forecasts

The fishery closure was largely based on the low ocean abundance forecasts of Sacramento and Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon released by state and federal fishery managers at the CDFW’s Salmon Information Meeting in late February.

The ocean abundance forecast for Sacramento River Fall Chinook Salmon is only 165,655. Sacramento River Fall Chinook, historically the largest contributor to fisheries off California and southern Oregon, have experienced dramatic declines over the last 5 years. 

The 2025 is significantly lower than the 213,622 fall-run salmon ocean abundance forecasted last year at the same time. 

“We must target an escapement of at least 122,000 fish (maximum 25.4 percent exploitation rate,” said Dr. Michael O’Farrell, Fish Biologist and leader of the Fisheries Assessment Modeling Team of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Escapement is the number of fish that return to the rivers and tributaries to spawn.  

The PFMC’s review of the 2024 salmon fisheries reported only  99,274 adult fall-run Chinook that returned to the Sacramento River Basin last year.

Fall Chinook returns to Sacramento River hatcheries in 2024 totaled 26,834 adults and 8,301 jacks (two year-old fish), while escapement to natural areas was 72,440 adults and 10,864 jacks, according to the document.  

Spawner escapement in 2024 of endangered Sacramento River Winter Chinook, an endangered species under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts, was estimated to be only 789 adults and 578 jacks.  

Escapement of Spring Chinook to the Sacramento River system in 2024 totaled only 2,646 fish (jacks and adults), with an estimated return of 176 to upper Sacramento River tributaries and the remaining 2,470 fish returning to the Feather River Hatchery.

Most of those 176 fish returned to Butte Creek, the last stronghold for wild  Spring Chinooks.

The Sacramento River system isn’t the only river system seeing a low abundance of salmon. The 2025 Klamath River ocean abundance forecast is only 67,056 age 3 Fall Chinook, 14,333 age 4 Fall Chinook and 1,283 age 5 Fall Chinook, according to O’Farrell.

Regarding Klamath River Fall Chinook management, the potential spawner abundance is 20,763 with a maximum exploitation rate of 10 percent and a minimum natural area escapement rate of 18,687.  

The only positive news is that in 2024, four dams were removed from the Klamath River, allowing salmon to move upstream from the site of Iron Gate Dam for the first time in many decades. 

The estimated run size in the Klamath mainstem and its tributaries from Iron Gate (California) to Keno Dam was 1,494 adults and 151 jacks in 2024, the PFMC reported.  

The range of inland salmon fishing regulation options will be discussed at the California Fish and Game Commission meetings on April 16-17, in Sacramento, California with final inland season recommendations and adoption scheduled for the May 14, Teleconference meeting.

Please see the Ocean Salmon webpage and the Fish and Game Commission meetings webpage(opens in new tab) for a complete calendar of events and contact information regarding the salmon preseason process, including other opportunities for public engagement.