Fishery managers across the West face ever-more crucial choices as they
try to maximize anglers' pleasure while minimizing impacts of non-resident
fish on a growing list of threatened or endangered species.

That was the consensus of experts who presented their perspectives Tuesday
afternoon at a workshop titled "Management Implications of Co-occurring
Native and Introduced Fishes." Hosts for the Portland workshop were
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National

Researchers are using statistics collected over the past year and a
half in an effort to visualize what shape sport fishing might take if a
decision were made to breach four dams on the lower Snake River to ease
passage for salmon and steelhead.

A pair of reports were delivered Thursday during the Corps of Engineers
annual research review of its Anadromous Fish Evaluation Program. Both
were done as a part of the Corps' ongoing Lower Snake River Drawdown Feasibility
Study.

The ...

A combined state and tribal supplementation effort has enabled fishery
managers to offer a lower Yakima River fall chinook sport fishery for the
first time in 34 years.

The season, the first since 1964, opened Sept. 1 and will run through
Oct. 31. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says that anglers
will take about 410 of an estimated 4,000 fall chinook expected to return
to the river this fall.

The river is open to fishing from its mouth to the Chandler ...

Today's opening of the popular Buoy 10 salmon fishery at mouth of the Columbia River also marks the implementation of a few new fishing rules as anglers pursue fall chinook and hatchery coho salmon.

Fisheries officials this week pushed up their estimate of this year's upriver spring chinook salmon return thus allowing sport anglers to fish the lower Columbia River for the prized salmon for at least another four days.

Minimum size limits on chinook salmon caught by anglers off the Washington coast will be raised in an effort to prevent an early closure of fast-paced fisheries from Ilwaco to Neah Bay, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Thursday.

"Sport reward" anglers will need plenty of luck and effort in their pursuit
of northern pikeminnow on the Columbia and Snake rivers this year if they
expect to break records set in 2001 both for fish caught and for cash
bounties collected.

Salmon anglers along the Pacific coasts of Washington and northern
Oregon this year should be able to take advantage of a strong return of
Columbia River chinook salmon, but must ease off on the harvest of coho
salmon returning to the Columbia as compared to last year.