SALEM, Ore.—The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted 2025 recreational and commercial groundfish regulations at their meeting today, December 13, 2024 in Salem that continues a five-fish recreational bag limit during the popular summer months.
Nearshore groundfish species (approximately a dozen species of rockfish, cabezon, greenlings, and lingcod) are subject to joint state and federal management. The recent (2023) stock assessment for both black rockfish and canary rockfish resulted in a reduced quota for Oregon’s fisheries.
While the year will start with a four-fish daily marine bag limit, the bag limit increases to five fish starting July 1 (with a one-fish sub-bag limit of canary rockfish all year). ODFW heard support for this approach during meetings earlier in the year when it asked for public feedback on how to accommodate the reduced quotas. This approach is expected to provide a stable fishery throughout the year, with a low risk that the bag limit will need to be further reduced in-season. The increased bag limit during the popular summer months will provide the most opportunity as many visitors come to the Oregon coast to vacation and fish during summer and ocean conditions are also much better. The commercial nearshore fishery’s bi-monthly trip limits are also reduced for 2025.
ODFW is seeking to collect more data on black rockfish to increase confidence in survey data and hopefully increase the quota; the 2025 reduction in quota would have been larger but for ODFW assessment data.
The Commission also took the following actions today:
Fish Restoration and Enhancement Program: Appointed Winter Rhodes as the Public at Large Representative to the R&E Board effective Jan. 1, 2025. They also heard updates on the R&E program, which distributes grants for fishery restoration and enhancement projects throughout the state, and on the STEP (Salmon Trout Enhancement) program, which runs hatcheries, the Egg to Fry program in Oregon’s classrooms, educational fishing events and other programs thru a network of dedicated volunteers.
Access and Habitat Project Funding: Approved funding to match NRCS funds and help continue the Open Fields program, which provides hunting access to more than half a million acres on private land. The grant will also help fund an expedited approval process for other landowners who want to join the program.
Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program: Approved ODFW’s acquisition of three properties adjacent to Fern Ridge Wildlife Area’s South Coyote Unit that build upon local and regional conservation efforts to protect Willamette Valley native wet prairie and riparian habitats. Funding for the acquisition comes from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) as part of an agreement to settle BPA wildlife habitat mitigation obligations in the Willamette Valley.
Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission: Approved recommending sheep and hay farmer Mark Vargas of Medford for the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board’s appointment to the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission as a fish and wildlife habitat member for a four-year term.
Private Forest Accord Grant Approval: Approved additional funding to the Rogue Basin Partnership to complete a project along the Bear Creek corridor in Phoenix.
Update mailing/reprinting fees: Amended rules to eliminate the standard $2 shipping fee for most documents, provide flexibility to charge fees to cover the true cost of shipping larger documents or special orders, and maintain fees for specific documents such as landowner preference and reprinted hunting and angling tags.
Preference point reinstatement appeal: Denied an appeal from an elk bow hunter who did not receive a preference point reinstatement after being injured because he had already hunted during the season. ODFW rules allow for the Director to reinstate points when a hunter cannot use their tag due to circumstances beyond their control or tragic personal circumstances, but not when they have already hunted. The rules allow for appeal to the Commission when reinstatement is denied by the Director. The ODFW Director did reinstate preference points to the hunter for 100 series buck deer as the hunter did not participate in that hunt and the situation met the definition of tragic personal circumstances.
New Commissioner Dallas Hall DeFrees of Baker City, Ore. joined the meeting remotely. She began her four-year term in October 2024 after being appointed as the East Region Representative by Governor Kotek and confirmed by the Senate.
The agenda item about purple sea urchin regulations was postponed until the February commission meeting in Portland.
The Commission’s next meeting is Jan. 10, 2025 in Salem.
A recording of today’s meeting and yesterday’s workshop on resiliency of working lands for people, fish and wildlife is available on ODFW’s YouTube channel.
