Salmon Opener and Season -- DFG wants your help

Got this release this afternoon:

CDFG Informational Notice

27 August 2009

Attention Anglers: Check your Chinook Salmon

Contact: Joe Duran, Associate Marine Biologist   (707) 576-3456

Are you planning a fishing trip off the North Coast for Chinook salmon
during the upcoming 10-day opener?

Be on the lookout for salmon missing their adipose fin, the small,
fleshy fin on the fish’s back between the dorsal fin and the tail fin.
A missing adipose fin indicates that the salmon contains a small (≤1 mm
in length) coded-wire tag that contains important information (e.g.,
brood year, run, stock, river of origin, release size and location) for
that fish.

Fishery biologists expect to see an increase in the number of adipose
fin-clipped
salmon observed in California’s ocean and river fisheries.

In recent years, California salmon hatcheries have increased tagging
rates to at least 25 percent of the fish they produce.

Salmon managers use information from coded-wire tags to manage West
Coast salmon fisheries and protect salmon stocks of special concern.

Anglers are required to relinquish the head of any adipose fin-clipped
salmon to field staff during the monitoring of any California fishery
(FGC Section 8226).

Your cooperation with fishery samplers will ensure that accurate data
are used to
manage salmon fisheries and protect California salmon resources in the
future.

For more information, check the 2009 Ocean Salmon Seasons Web page at
www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/oceansalmon.asp.

Thank you!


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Interesting. I feel bad for the creel survey dudes that have to "acquire" the heads of highly-prized salmon from triumphant fishermen returning to port....they already catch enough flack.

And hopefully people don't misinterpret this press release to mean that all adipose-clipped salmonids are fair game. Because it's possible to catch a steelhead in the ocean, where they're on the no-take list. Rare, but possible.

How about I give a salmon head right to the Guverrnator...  after about 2 weeks in a bucket.   

Nothing specific from me regarding a complaint.  Just feeling ornery!   

Quote;
"Your cooperation with fishery samplers will ensure that accurate data are used to
manage salmon fisheries and protect California salmon resources in the
future."
GOOD IDEA - This has worked out so well for us in the past   

GOOD IDEA - This has worked out so well for us in the past

Yeah, I know But unfortunately they have work within the rules and they are closer to allies than enemies of which we have plenty. So if we don't help them we might be shooting ourselves in the foot for the future when they have too little data to stop more water being taken away.

The good news is the CWTs are going the way of the dodo bird and being replaced by tissue samples and a progam called GSI.  Hatchery fish will still be adipose clipped, but the heads won't need to be removed for ID, just a tiny piece of the fish.