Recreational salmon fishing closed in Klamath, Trinity, Smith and Eel rivers

EUREKA, Calif. — On Wednesday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's (CDFW) Fish and Game Commission decided, unanimously, to close recreational salmon fishing in a number of rivers across the state, including the Klamath, Trinity, Smith and Eel rivers.

This comes after commercial ocean salmon season was already closed earlier this year.

These closures are necessary, according to the CDFW, in order to prevent further harm to the declining population of local chinook salmon that has resulted from a combination of factors in recent years.

The hope is that by enforcing these closures now, the salmon population will improve so that fishing opportunities can continue in the future.

"The Chinook salmon populations have been hard hit by a number of events in the last few years—most significantly, the drought, which has limited spawning habitat, made waters coming out of dams very warm and not conducive to supporting a cold water fishery," CDFW Public Information Officer Peter Tira said.

The commission also voted to allow federally recognized tribes that have historically used the rivers to continue to fish in them under existing inland sport fishing regulations.

--

To report errors or issues with this article please email the editorial team.