Marine Region’s 2019 Year in Review Now Available!

The 2019 Year in Review is now available for your reading pleasure along with its companion document By the Numbers. The Year in Review is a condensed one-stop shop of the entire year’s accomplishments and our By the Numbers summarizes some of the most important commercial and recreational fishing numbers for your easy review. In other words, if you only read two documents from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Region this year, these are them!

Creature Feature: Quillback Rockfish

Quillback rockfish are found from Point Sur northward off California, but they are most common off northern California. This fish may be found in subtidal areas to

2020 California Grunion Run Schedule Now Available

California grunion come ashore to spawn on a Southern California beach
photo by heather, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The 2020 schedule of expected California grunion runs is now available on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website.

Grunion are famous for their spawning behavior. From March through August, these fish surf the waves

California Fish and Game Commission Adopts the California Pacific Herring Fishery Management Plan

At its October 10, 2019 meeting, the California Fish and Game Commission adopted the California Pacific Herring Fishery Management Plan (Herring FMP). The Herring FMP establishes a cohesive strategy to guide the sustainable management of California’s commercial and recreational Pacific herring fisheries, as required by the Marine Life Management Act.

Environmental Disaster Continues to Decimate Bull Kelp Forests and Red Abalone Populations in Northern California

Divers prepare for 2018 surveys at Caspar Cove on the Mendocino County coast. photo by K. Joe

Urchins and a lone abalone scour the rocky sea floor looking for food. photo by K. Joe

Empty abalone shells at Van Damme State Marine Conservation Area, 2018. photo by K. Joe

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has monitored northern California kelp forest ecosystems and red abalone populations for the past 20 years. Surveys completed in the summer of 2018 continued to document mass abalone starvation and population collapse.