News media reports that California’s salmon season is closed for all of 2023 inaccurate

FORT BRAGG, 3/13/23 — Salmon season isn’t closed for all of 2023 yet. But all three recommended alternatives to be considered by regulators at a week-long meeting beginning April 1 would close the California fishery for all of 2023 if followed. However, this is not a certainty. In years past, changes have been made during the public process that is still ongoing. Numerous media reports, such as this Bay Area news broadcast, have misconstrued the existing closures as being for the entire season.

Sport salmon fishing groups and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) recommended March 4 that the salmon fishing season be canceled. This was accompanied by a push to get a federal disaster declaration to aid fishermen. The suggestion by the fishing groups, who knew the PCFFA was considering closure, was widely reported as a closed salmon fishing season even before last week’s PCFFA meeting. Temporary closures of the early part of the season, when few salmon are caught in California, are not infrequent, and no decision on actually closing salmon season will be made until the April 1-7 meeting of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. In the past, alternatives have been modified when innovative proposals have been made by environmentalists or the fishing industry.