Fisheries Off West Coast States; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; 2026 Specifications and Management Measures
Key claim: NMFS establishes 2026 ocean salmon fishery management measures for Washington, Oregon, and California waters, setting quotas, seasons, gear rules, and harvest guidelines to prevent overfishing and protect tribal fishing rights.
Abstract
(Rule · Commerce Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Through this final rule, NMFS establishes fishery management measures for the ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California for the season beginning May 16, 2026, until the effective date of the 2027 management measures which we expect to be May 16, 2027 (the 2026 ocean salmon fishing season), under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The fishery management measures include fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, harvest guidelines, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off Washington, Oregon, and California. These measures are intended to prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from the fishery, to provide for the exercise of federally recognized fishing rights by West Coast Indian Tribes, to allow a portion of the salmon runs to escape the ocean fisheries in order to provide for spawning escapement, and to apportion the ocean harvest reasonably among non-Indian commercial and recreational fisheries.
Why this matters
Annual salmon specifications directly govern how much fish can be caught, when, and by whom off the West Coast — driving commercial and recreational season length, coastal-community revenue, and the balance between ESA-listed stock rebuilding and tribal treaty harvest obligations. Even as a routine annual action, the 2026 measures set the operating constraints for one of the most economically and culturally significant fisheries on the Pacific coast.