Final Rule to Implement Measures to Keep Fishery Impacts within the Conservation Objective for the California Coastal Chinook Salmon

NOAA Fisheries published a final rule implementing management measures to ensure fishery impacts on California Coastal (CC) Chinook salmon remain within its conservation objective that would not jeopardize this Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) in the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (Salmon FMP). These new harvest management measures are being proposed to ensure that ocean salmon fisheries between the Oregon/California border and the U.S./Mexico border, are managed to promote the conservation of the CC Chinook salmon ESU

Higher than expected catch rates in the California commercial troll fishery and Chinook salmon catch was a major contributor to exceeding the Endangered Species Act (ESA) take limit for CC Chinook salmon in the fishery from 2018-2022. NOAA Fisheries has determined that data are insufficient for developing an ESU-specific conservation objective for CC Chinook salmon and relies on a surrogate stock, Klamath River fall-run Chinook Salmon (KRFC), to evaluate and limit impacts on CC Chinook salmon in ocean salmon fisheries. The commercial salmon troll fisheries off the coast of California have been managed primarily through season controls such as fishing time and area restrictions which have proven to be ineffective in controlling the fishery to stay within conservation objectives for CC Chinook salmon in recent years. Thus, NOAA Fisheries is implementing the use of landing and possession limits and inseason management, which are routinely used in other ocean areas where KRFC are impacted, to directly control catch rates and ensure fisheries do not exceed the conservation objective for CC Chinook salmon ESU.

Contact Shannon Penna, Anadromous Harvest Management, at (562) 980-4239.

Sign up for NOAA Fisheries newsletters and notices by providing your email here. After clicking submit, you can sign up for notifications on specific topics like 'Salmon' by expanding the "Regional Updates" tab and navigating to "West Coast Updates" below.