West Coast Salmon Rules Get Eleven Midseason Tweaks in One Notice
Published Date: 10/22/2026
Rule
Summary
Fishermen along the West Coast, from the U.S.-Canada border to Cape Falcon, Oregon, got 11 updates to the 2026-2027 salmon fishing rules. These changes adjust fishing seasons and catch limits to keep salmon populations healthy and fishing fair. The new rules kicked in during 2026 and will stay until replaced, helping balance fishing fun with conservation.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
Multiple inseason cutbacks and closures to protect 37,300 spring quota
Between May 28 and June 29, 2026, NMFS repeatedly reduced NOF weekly landing limits (from 200 to 100 on May 28; to 50 on June 4; to 35 on June 12; to 20 on June 19) and implemented multiple short closures (for example June 9–11, June 16–18, June 23–26, and June 29–30) to avoid exceeding the spring Chinook quota of 37,300 fish. The rule lists specific catch and remaining-quota snapshots (e.g., 4,422 catch with 13,481 remaining; 7,300 catch with 6,181 remaining; 34,149 catch with 3,151 remaining; 35,867 catch with 1,433 remaining; 36,407 catch with 893 remaining).
New weekly landing limits set May 18–27, 2026
If you fish commercially (troll) north of Cape Falcon, NMFS set new weekly landing and possession limits effective 12:01 a.m. May 18, 2026 through 11:59 p.m. May 27, 2026: an overall North-of-Cape-Falcon (NOF) limit of 200 Chinook salmon per vessel per landing week (Thursday–Wednesday), and subarea limits of 100 (U.S./Canada border to Queets River), 200 (Queets River to Leadbetter Point), and 80 (Leadbetter Point to Cape Falcon).
Summer 2026 weekly limits set to 50 Chinook and 50 marked coho
For the July 2026 summer fishery, NMFS established a landing and possession limit of 50 Chinook salmon and 50 marked coho salmon per vessel per landing week. The first summer landing week was an eight-day accounting period from July 1, 2026 through July 8, 2026 (Wednesday–Wednesday), then resumed the regular Thursday–Wednesday week beginning July 9, 2026.
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