The return of ocean salmon fishing casts hope in Emeryville anglers

Aside from a six-day recreational season in 2025, Emeryville anglers started casting their lines again for salmon for the first time in three years in July. 

The summer season ended in August and the fall season — which wraps up Saturday or when the 20,000-unit catch is reached —  began in September. 

“​​We had a lot of fish this year, probably more than we thought,” said Andy Guiliano, Emeryville director at Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association and co-founder of Fish Emeryville, the only recreational charter business in Emeryville marinas. 

Ocean salmon fishing in California has different rules and dates for commercial and recreational fishing. While commercial fishing has already concluded, recreational fishing goes till the end of the month. The Pacific Fisheries Management Council recommended the previous season cancellations for both industries in California because of environmental factors – such as subpar migration conditions, habitat decline and warm waters — all of which contributed to a low number of spawning fish.

Guiliano’s charter business took a hit after years of no salmon fishing. While individuals with vessels can fish recreationally with a permit, Fish Emeryville is the only place people can join a vessel to fish ocean salmon.

“When there’s no salmon, there’s no bait sales, there’s no tackle sales, no fuel sales in the marina, no ice, no fish processing. … So, after three years of no fishing, it was important to get this year back,” Guiliano said.

The state manages the catch limit within river systems and the waters directly off the coast. However, anything caught outside of those zones is in the jurisdiction of the PFMC, which manages off-shore fisheries.

Looking ahead to next year

It’s the open ocean that attracts fishermen like Jared Davis.

“We’re going to go out beyond the Golden Gate — somewhere in the ocean,” Davis, a lifelong fisherman and treasurer at the Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association said Tuesday. Earlier in the season, the salmon tend to congregate further offshore near the edge of the continental shelf drop off.” 

Chester Lindley, senior environmental scientist of the Marine Region at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the long hiatus is partially why salmon anglers are seeing a fruitful season. 

“This season marked a successful return to catching and landing salmon for commercial fishers and the communities that rely on commercial salmon fishing,” Lindley wrote in an email to Emeryville Today.

The commercial industry opted to take another year off and just wait it out for a better year, said Angela Forristall, salmon staff officer with PFMC. 

“We were also getting hints that the environmental conditions for the next year, which was the most recent year, was going to be more conducive to them having a more robust fishery,” Forristall said. 

It’s not the first time local stakeholders have voluntarily pulled up their lines.The Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association voluntarily reduced the limit for halibut from three to two in 2023, knowing the catch numbers might get too high with no salmon available.

Due to the multi-year pause on ocean salmon fishing, Fish Emeryville fished other species more intensely. However, they prefer to rely on salmon, charting parties on their nine-vessel fleet. 

“Salmon and the Dungeness crab are the two big ones,” Guiliano said. Without salmon, they fished more rockfish, he added. 

While the status of next year’s season is uncertain, Guiliano remains optimistic. Generous fishing conditions this year give him hope about next year’s population as well.

In the next few weeks, Pacific salmon are expected to begin their swim upstream to spawn in freshwater, typically between the months of November and January. 

“It looks like there’s a lot of fish in the ocean returning up front to the river. 
So we would expect to have another full season in 2027,” Guiliano said.

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