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!