Pacific Council adopts tentative 2025 ocean salmon measures for analysis; states, tribes submit differing quota proposals

The Pacific Fishery Management Council on April 10 tentatively adopted proposed 2025 ocean salmon management measures for analysis and asked the Salmon Technical Team to model several state and tribal options before final action next week.

The council’s tentative packages cover three geographic lanes: north of Cape Falcon (Washington), Cape Falcon to the Oregon–California border (Oregon), and the California coast (Oregon–Mexico). Each state’s representatives moved the council to adopt the management measures for their portion of the coast; the council also received treaty‑area proposals from several coastal tribes and a separate set of treaty options from Makah and Quinault tribal representatives.

The council’s action will not itself open fisheries. Staff and the Salmon Technical Team (STT) will analyze the tentative packages to estimate stock impacts and to check that proposed seasons meet conservation objectives. Those results will be reported back to the council for possible modification and final adoption.

Why it matters: West Coast ocean salmon seasons are set each spring by the council in consultation with states, tribes and NOAA Fisheries. The 2025 process comes amid very low forecasts for several key stocks, large recent reductions in harvest opportunity, and requests…