Ocean Salmon Seasons Set To Close Off The California Coast Within A Week

NOAA Fisheries West Coast announced today that the two Pacific Ocean salmon seasons off the California coast will close in the next week. Here’s the press release from NOAA:

Inseason Action #21-#23 in Ocean Salmon Fisheries, North & South of Cape Falcon (Commercial & Recreational)

NOAA Fisheries has taken inseason action in the ocean commercial and recreational salmon fisheries north and south of Cape Falcon.

• Inseason Action #21: Effective 12:01 AM Thursday August 20, 2026, the landing and possession limit for the commercial ocean salmon troll fishery in the area between the U.S./Canada border and Cape Falcon is 10 Chinook salmon and 100 marked coho salmon per vessel per landing week (Thursday-Wednesday).
• Inseason Action #22: Effective 12:01 a.m., August 25, 2026, the commercial ocean salmon fishery between Point Arena and the U.S./Mexico border, previously scheduled for August 25-27, is closed.
• Inseason Action #23: Effective 12:01 a.m., August 24, 2026, the recreational ocean salmon fishery between Point Arena and Pigeon Point (San Francisco management area), previously scheduled for August 1-31, is closed.

Please refer to the Final Rule for the West Coast Salmon Fisheries 2026-2027 Specifications and Management Measures for additional regulations and supporting materials.

The Golden State Salmon Association posted this on Facebook:

CDFW announced important changes to California’s 2026 ocean salmon season following the latest count of fish caught.

Recreational: As of August 16, roughly 8,000 salmon remained out of the recreational quota of 34,900 in the “San Francisco cell”. This is an area stretching from Pt. Arena to Pigeon Point.

CDFW is expected to announce that this area will close on Monday.

The Fort Bragg cell, which closed August 9, ended up going over its quota by about 1500 fish. This demonstrates that trying to manage to a quota number, which is something new in California ocean sport salmon, is tricky and should get more precise as managers gain experience.

Commercial: California’s commercial fleet has caught nearly 99% of its 83,000-fish quota. A closure is expected.

Both sport and commercial ocean salmon fishing will reopen south of Pt. Reyes in early September. Sport reopens September 1, commercial will reopen September 4. Both sectors will have another 20,000 fish to catch before shutting for the year.

After years of closures, getting California salmon fishing back on the water was a big step. We’re hoping closures are a thing of the past, although there are worrisome signs for this year’s upper Sacramento River natural spawners. More on that later.