All California commercial salmon fishing will be shut down until 2026 — the third year in a row — due to low salmon populations.
The announcement by the Pacific Fishery Management Council also announced that recreational ocean salmon fishing will be “extremely limited,” but allowed for the first time since 2022.
The PFMC announcement said the decision was because of the extremely low returns of fall, winter and spring run Chinook salmon in the Sacramento and Klamath Rivers.
The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations supported the closure and said opening commercial fishing for the rest of 2025 “did not make economic or biological sense and would risk long-term recovery efforts that the fleet has already sacrificed two seasons to achieve.”
All California ocean commercial salmon fisheries in areas from the Oregon-California border to the U.S.-Mexico border will be closed starting mid-May, the PFMC recommended.
Save California Salmon, a policy and community advocacy group, said that the low salmon populations are a result of water mismanagement, pollution, habitat degradation and climate disruption.
“Three years without a salmon season is devastating, as is the prospect of California losing its iconic salmon runs. However, it’s not the end of the story,” said Regina Chichizola, SCS executive director. “We know that salmon come back when we give rivers a chance to recover.”
The closure will limit Tribal subsistence fishing allocations as well.
Chichizola called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to support Tribal and fishing communities, jobs, and drinking water quality in a written statement.
“Just last fall, we saw an unexpectedly strong response from spawning salmon just weeks after the completion of Klamath dam removal,” Chichizola said.
The dam removal was a part of the state’s “Salmon Strategy” implemented in January to bring fish back to historical habitats, restore tidal wetlands and modernize infrastructure by working with tribal nations and local and federal partners.
Kasil Willie, an attorney for SCS, said another year of closed commercial salmon fishing is a “total crisis” for Tribes and fishing families.
“Closing the fisheries is a short term solution which doesn’t address California’s major water quality issues. We need more than temporary band-aids; we need a commitment to restoring our rivers,” Willie said.
For recreational ocean salmon fishing, there will be a two-day opener in early June, another two-day opener in July, a four-day opener in late July through early August, and a seven-day opener in late August.
All of these openings are dependent on the remaining availability of the statewide harvest guideline of 7,000 Chinook salmon, according to PFMC.
The recommendations for the closure will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval by May 16.
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