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Obstacles facing California’s Dungeness crab and salmon fisheries were the focus of Tuesday’s annual fisheries meeting in Sacramento. 

The Zeke Grader Fisheries Forum, named after the renowned sustainability advocate and longtime leader of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, gives industry experts, tribal leaders and scientists an opportunity to discuss issues facing California’s commercial fisheries with state lawmakers and explore potential legislative action.

Over the last decade, elevated levels of the neurotoxin domoic acid, mandatory gear reductions, whale entanglements and price negotiations with seafood suppliers have led to unprecedented delays for commercial crabbers. Similarly, historic drought and poor habitat conditions have devastated California’s salmon population in recent years, forcing the closure of the commercial fishery from 2023 to 2025.

Mike McGuire | Screenshot

“Being a commercial fisherman on the West Coast has not been easy over these past several years,” State Sen. Mike McGuire, chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, said at Tuesday’s forum. “Historic droughts, climate impacts, dams [and] wildfires all have advanced significant challenges. Climate change continues to reshape our oceans, our rivers [and] our coastlines. Federal uncertainty has made long-term planning more difficult. All the while, those who depend on healthy fisheries continue to navigate an increasingly unpredictable future.”

State of California’s Fisheries

During an overview of the state of fisheries, Craig Shuman, marine region manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), said commercial fishermen landed 217 million pounds of fish in 2025 worth roughly $212 million. The haul represented a 30% increase in weight and a 15% increase in value over the 10-year average, according to CDFW’s “By the Numbers Report” for 2025. 

“This is driven primarily by market squid at 174 million pounds worth $83 million, and Dungeness crab coming in second with 8.6 million pounds at about $6.5 million less [compared to] prior years,” Shuman said, underscoring the economic boon fishing brings to port cities. “When you get back from a day of fishing, you spend the night at a hotel, you go to a restaurant and you’re spending money. You go to a coffee shop in the morning. All of these things combined really bring back the fabric of our small coastal ports and communities.”

Shuman also acknowledged the unprecedented three-year closure of California’s ocean salmon fishery, and steps taken by CDFW and other state agencies to reopen the fishery in 2026 with in-season management for commercial and recreational fisheries. He credited California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot and “three years of really good rain” for bringing back the commercial and recreational seasons.

Craig Shuman | Screenshot

“I just could not overstate how important that is to our fishing communities,” he said. “For the first time in three years of closure on the main stem [of the] Sacramento and Klamath rivers, we have increased recreational ocean salmon opportunities.”

Shuman pointed to yelloweye rockfish and cowcod as beacons of hope and representations of how science-based management can rebuild overfished species.

“This year, we expect the [NOAA] Fisheries to declare yelloweye rockfish rebuilt,” he said. “Not only is this 50 years ahead of schedule, [but] this is after 20 years of precautionary and economically impactful management to avoid yelloweye rockfish,” he said. “We expect 2027 will bring new fishing opportunities, including a brief one-month window where retention of yelloweye at low levels will be allowed for both commercial and recreational sectors. Similarly, in 2027, we also expect there will be a one-month opportunity to retain cow cod at low levels.”

“These last two examples give me hope and exemplify that when we work together to implement sound fisheries management, we can maintain sustainable stocks and bring back those that have been depleted, and in doing so, support the hardworking men and women in our commercial and recreational fishing industries,” he added.

That said, Crowfoot acknowledged the difficulty in balancing the water needs of fish and people, particularly in the Sacramento River.

“For the salmon fishery, the Sacramento is the most important river in California,” he said. “While we can do great things for other rivers — particularly coastal rivers and streams, where temperatures are remaining pretty cold and will remain pretty cold — the salmon fishery is greatly impacted by what happens to these species on the Sacramento River. … There’s no doubt that the driest three years in the state’s history — 2020 to 2022 — resulted in the closures of 2023, 2024 and 2025 because of the three-year salmon life cycle.”

Crowfoot expressed optimism about the water board’s update to the Bay-Delta Plan, which “calls for improved flows as well as commitments to construct a lot of habitat.”

McGuire brought up the Trump Administration’s recent decision to rescind the word “harm” from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), weakening protections for thousands of threatened and endangered species. He asked Crowfoot to describe his top concerns with the policy change.

“I’ll start by saying the federal government’s announcement that it is seeking to reinterpret the federal [ESA] is to suggest that the destruction of an endangered species habitat isn’t ‘harm’ is highly problematic,” he said. “[The CDFW] is assessing the degradation or the loss of protection at the federal level, and how we can potentially backstop those protections. … The gutting of the federal agencies [poses] another big challenge. [We’ve seen] our federal agencies lose over a third of their workforce in 18 to 24 months, and that impacts management. … [There are] huge challenges from this federal administration, but we’re clear-eyed about them.”

Removing Barriers for Struggling Salmon

The second panel of the day focused on the successful return of salmon to the Klamath River post-dam removal, as well as ongoing barriers to salmon navigating the Feather River, a tributary of the Sacramento River.

Crystal Robinson, a senior environmental scientist with CDFW’s Klamath Watershed Program, provided an overview of the decades-long endeavor to remove four hydroelectric dams on the lower Klamath River, opening more than 400 miles of habitat. In the two years since the project wrapped, scientists have seen dramatic ecological improvements in the river.

“The majority of historic [Chinook] habitat is now occupied within two years post-dam removal,” Robinson said. “We’ve been seeing low returns to the hatchery as adult salmon are repopulating historic habitats at a more accelerated rate than expected. For context, in 2025, 13,008 adult Chinook migrated past the former Iron Gate Dam, and 1,245 of those fish returned to Fall Creek Hatcheries — about 10%.”

James | Screenshot

Yurok Tribal Chairman Joe James described dam removal as a “big part of healing” the Klamath Basin, emphasizing that salmon are not just a food source, but are “the Yurok’s way of life.” He described the “joy” and “excitement” he’s felt among tribal members, especially kids. 

“You can feel it, and it is joy,” he said. “I carry that feeling with me as we continue to move forward. But again, dam removal was the first phase. … We need to continue to move forward with the state [to] advocate and protect our river, our streams [and] our endangered species from the federal government. … but the Yurok Tribe is committed, and we’re here for the long haul to provide a healthy system for the Klamath Basin.”

Craig Tucker, a natural resources policy advocate for the Karuk Tribe, described the Klamath restoration effort as “amazing,” underscoring the importance of preserving cold water flows across the state. 

“We should pat ourselves on the back for what we’ve accomplished, but we should also roll up our sleeves for what to do next,” he said, pointing to the Scott and Shasta river watersheds, where wild Chinook and Coho salmon are born. “AB 263 … has required the state of California … to set minimum flows for these terrains, making sure those flows are not just the bare, belly-scraping minimum for fish to eke out a living, but are flows that are robust and allow fish to recover so we have a harvestable surplus of fish in the future.”

North Coast Assemblymember Chris Rogers acknowledged that “there’s an entire chapter” of the salmon recovery strategy that’s devoted to partnerships, but asked Chairman James how he and other state representatives could help close gaps that still exist.

“Continued research and continued funding,” James said. “Again, dam removal, from our eyes, is a big step, but it is step one. … Those continued partnerships and collaborations are key, and we still need that moving forward to expand restoration and conservation.”

Another ‘Unpredictable’ Year for Dungeness Crab

Over the past decade, it has become routine for the Dungeness Crab season to begin weeks after the scheduled opener in early November. There are four factors at play in determining when and where the season will open: domoic acid, meat quality, whale migration and fishing fleet dynamics. 

At Tuesday’s forum, Joanna Grebel, program manager for CDFW’s invertebrate fisheries management program, provided an outlook for the upcoming season, which is currently scheduled to open on Nov. 7. She noted that whale migration patterns may be altered due to “elevated coastal sea surface temperatures and reduced upwelling,” which could increase the entanglement risk. However, her primary concern was domoic acid.

Grebel | Screenshot

“This one’s going to be a biggie this year,” she said. “Staff are preparing for the potential impacts of a large domoic acid event, given the prediction of a very strong El Niño this fall and into spring. … If forecasts are correct, we could see something similar to what we saw back in the 2015 and 2016 season … [when] we had extremely high levels of domoic acid that persisted for a long time. This caused the fishery to remain closed until late March in some areas, and as late as mid to late May in others.”

To prepare, CDFW staff are going to start testing for domoic acid earlier than usual “with the hopes of trying to get some early warning indication of where we think domoic acid is this year,” Grebel said.

Still, it’s difficult to predict how the season will play out this early. Fortunately, Grebel said, CDFW has some “new tools” in the toolbox that will improve its ability to prepare. 

“We [can] expect this to be another adventurous and somewhat unpredictable opening for the crab fishery,” she said. “Meanwhile, we will work closely with the fleet to maximize our fishing opportunities while minimizing entanglement risk.”

Dick Ogg, a lifelong commercial fisherman based in Bodega Bay, urged caution when using predictive and speculative modeling that could force unnecessary restrictions. 

“We’re held captive by unrealistic thresholds,” Ogg said. “I believe we should live by data, not by assumption. … We have to understand that accidents will happen no matter how perfectly we plan [and] I want to see us use more technology … [including] vessel surveys, satellite imagery, drone surveys, acoustical studies.”

Lawmakers didn’t take any action at Tuesday’s fisheries forum. Want to see it for yourself? Visit the state senate’s media archive at this link and search for the “Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture” hearing.