Buoy 10 chinook salmon fishery
will end today as scheduled

VANCOUVER, Wash. – The popular Buoy 10 fishery for chinook salmon at the mouth of the Columbia River will close tonight as scheduled, even though anglers have caught only about half as many fish as expected.

Fishery managers from Washington and Oregon decided against extending the season because the portion of the catch from lower-river stocks has actually exceeded preseason estimates.

Both states had hoped to extend the chinook fishery through Labor Day, but doing so may have reduced the number of fish available for harvest farther upriver, said Bill Tweit, Columbia River policy leader for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

“The total catch of chinook was just one consideration in whether to extend the fishery,” Tweit said.  “The final decision rested on how an extension would affect ongoing sport fisheries upstream of Buoy 10.”

Although the chinook fishery ends tonight below Rocky Point, anglers can still catch and keep two hatchery-reared coho, steelhead, or one of each in the lower 16 miles of the Columbia River. Hatchery fish can be identify by a missing adipose fin and healed scar near their tail.

Farther upriver, anglers may retain one chinook salmon as part of their daily limit from Rocky Point to Bonneville Dam or two chinook from the dam to the Highway 395 bridge in Pasco. For more information on fishing seasons in Washington state, see WDFW’s Fishing in Washington rules pamphlet, available online at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/ .  

 Anglers will be able to fish for salmon seven days a week along the entire Washington coast beginning Friday (July 23), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today.

The new rules will increase recreational fishing opportunities in marine areas 2 (Westport-Ocean Shores), 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay), where salmon fishing is currently restricted to five days a week. Salmon fishing is already open seven days a week in Marine Area 1(Ilwaco).

“Overall, salmon fishing has been good on the coast this summer, but the number of anglers participating in the fishery has been lower than expected,” said Doug Milward, ocean salmon fisheries manager for WDFW. “With effort down – partly due to rough weather – we can provide anglers additional fishing opportunities without exceeding recreational harvest quotas for this year.”

Through July 18, anglers fishing along the coast had caught 8.3 percent of the 49,000 chinook quota for the ocean and 9.5 percent of the 67,200 coho quota.

Anglers fishing in those areas can keep up to two chinook as part of their two-salmon daily limit, but must release any chinook measuring less than 24 inches and hatchery coho less than 16 inches. Wild coho must be released unharmed.

Salmon fishing is scheduled to continue through Sept. 18 in marine areas 3 and 4, through Sept. 19 in Marine Area 2 and through Sept. 30 in Marine Area 1.  

NMFS took the following inseason action affecting the North of Cape Falcon Recreational fishery today:

Effective 12:01AM, Thursday, July 8, 2010, the daily bag limit for all subareas (Neah Bay, La Push, Westport, and Columbia River) has been changed to two fish per day, both of which can be Chinook salmon; all retained coho must be marked with a healed adipose fin clip.  The restriction of one Chinook salmon per day has been dropped.

The NMFS hotline (800-662-9825) has been updated and a notice to mariners has been sent.

Columbia River anglers can retain  sockeye up to Priest Rapids Dam  

Action:   Anglers will be able to retain sockeye salmon in the Columbia River during the on-going mark selective fishery for summer chinook salmon.

Location:   Columbia River from the Astoria-Megler Bridge upstream to Priest Rapids Dam.

Effective Dates:   June 26 through July 31, 2010.

Species affected:   Sockeye salmon.

Reason for action: Sockeye salmon returns to the Columbia River are now projected to be two times greater than predicted and the escapement needs for the Okanogan and Wenatchee rivers are likely to be achieved.  These upper Columbia populations (Wenatchee and Okanogan) are not listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Impacts to the ESA-listed Snake River component are projected to be less than 1% of the run.  

Other information: Minimum size 12 inches.  Salmon and steelhead daily limit six fish, only two of which may be adults.  All sockeye count as part of the adult daily limit.  All other salmon other than hatchery chinook and sockeye must be released.  Release all trout, including steelhead, from the Hwy. 395 Bridge at Pasco upstream.  

Information contact:    (360) 696-6211. For latest information press *1010.  

Columbia River spring chinook season reflects extraordinary promise, caution.

Fishery managers from Washington and Oregon today adopted fishing seasons for this year’s spring chinook fishery on the Columbia River, where the prized salmon are projected to return in the largest numbers since at least 1938.

Encouraged by a forecast of 559,900 returning fish, both states approved regulations that will provide Columbia River anglers with a full range of fishing opportunities above and below Bonneville Dam in March and April.

Buoy 10 upstream to the I-5 Bridge: Seven days per week from March 1 through April 18, except closed on the following Tuesdays: March 9, 16, 23 and 30. Anglers will be allowed to retain one adult spring chinook salmon per day.

Although spring chinook salmon do not begin to enter the Columbia River in large numbers until mid-March, some catches have already been reported.  Until March 1, the fishery is open under regulations described in the 2009-10 Fishing in Washington rule pamphlet ( http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/fishregs.htm ).

As outlined in the rule pamphlet, anglers may retain shad and hatchery steelhead when fishing is open for spring chinook salmon.    

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