Currently browsing: Fisheries Management

With an apparently late and larger-than-predicted run of eulachon (smelt) migrating into the Columbia River, Oregon and Washington harvest managers set this week additional commercial test fishery harvest days through March 18, while Washington opened a recreational dip net fishery for smelt in the Cowlitz River. The Sandy River remains closed to recreational fishing for smelt.

Oregon and Washington approved the first of the year spring chinook commercial gillnetting in the lower Columbia River during a two-state Columbia River Compact hearing Tuesday, Feb. 15. Commercial fishing in lower river Select Areas begin as soon as this week.

As salmon runs in British Columbia hit record lows, commercial fisheries along the Alaska panhandle are catching a growing share of salmon bound for B.C. rivers, alleges a new technical report issued by Canadian conservation groups

The lowest return to the Columbia River of summer steelhead on record in 2021 is prompting states to continue protections for the fish into 2022.

After a year with the worst return of steelhead to Washington’s coastal streams, the state’s fishery agency is saying the run is in decline and will likely get worse until ocean conditions improve.

In-season management of Columbia River fisheries came to an end this week as Oregon and Washington held this year’s final two-state Columbia River Compact hearing after a spring, summer and fall of mixed salmon and steelhead returns.

Once extirpated in much of the Snake River basin, coho salmon are making a big return this year to basin tributaries, allowing Idaho and Oregon to open rivers to coho angling. Both states announced this month the opening of coho angling in the Grande Ronde and Clearwater rivers.

With a run of steelhead into Idaho that is one-third of the 10-year average and the third worst run in the last ten years, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is dialing back the number of fish that recreational anglers can retain to one per day and three in possession.

Amid concern about record low numbers of steelhead moving up the Columbia River so far this year, state fishery managers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have announced new restrictions on steelhead fishing in the Snake River, as well as several Snake and Columbia River tributaries.

Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife staffs say there is little more that can be done to protect the dismally small number of upriver summer steelhead migrating this year in the Columbia River basin short of shutting down all non-tribal fishing, and even that “would not move the needle,” one staff member said.

Due to higher-than-expected catch rates and unexpected impacts to a salmon stock listed under the Endangered Species Act, Chinook salmon retention on the Columbia River from the Buoy 10 line upstream to the Tongue Point/Rocky Point line will close effective Friday, Aug. 27.

A 60 percent drop in the forecasted run of summer steelhead over Bonneville Dam is adding to the already bad news for Columbia and Snake river steelhead returns this year, which is seeing its worst year since Bonneville Dam was built.

As the Columbia River at Bonneville Dam warms to over 71 degrees Fahrenheit and with expectations of the second lowest steelhead run since Bonneville Dam was built, recreational angling for fall chinook, the largest remaining run of chinook salmon on the Columbia River, begins August 1.

Run size forecasts for summer chinook and sockeye salmon were both downgraded by an advisory committee that predicts preseason run sizes and adjusts those forecasts, if necessary, during mid-season. In addition, the run size of Skamania steelhead came in as the lowest on record and the run of A- and B-Index steelhead heading to the Snake River so far is at its second lowest run in10 years.

Spring chinook salmon fishing is nearly over and summer chinook fishing begins next week. Although it may be difficult to see much of a difference between a spring and a summer chinook at Bonneville Dam, June 16 is the transition date on which all chinook that pass the dam become summer chinook.

Oregon and Washington fisheries managers are adding one more day of hatchery spring chinook angling downstream of Bonneville Dam and two days upstream of the dam to the states’ border, all over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Even with a Skamania hatchery steelhead return at its lowest since Bonneville Dam was built and Cowlitz River hatchery spring chinook salmon unlikely to meet broodstock needs, the two state Columbia River Compact this week extended retention of hatchery spring chinook from Tongue Point in Astoria to the Oregon and Washington border.

Spring Chinook season will open in the Snake River’s Hells Canyon on Saturday, April 24 from the Dug Bar boat ramp to the boundary below Hells Canyon Dam.

A poor spring chinook run is impacting angling opportunities in two Oregon rivers. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife set regulations for fishing in the Hood and Deschutes rivers, reducing the bag limit in one river and closing the other due to an extreme low run of wild fish.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council has adopted three alternatives for 2021 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California for public review. Options for Washington's ocean salmon fisheries reflect the need to minimize impacts to low forecasted abundances of coastal coho stocks while providing opportunities to access the large forecast for Columbia River coho.

Washington state is beginning a process with a series of public meetings that will determine by May the allowed harvest of a limited number of fall chinook, coho, chum and pink salmon in offshore areas north of Cape Falcon in Oregon, up the state’s coastline and in Puget Sound.

Oregon and Washington this week opened spring chinook salmon angling from Buoy 10 to the Oregon/Washington border in March. The opening in the lower river is the first time since 2018 that anglers will be allowed to pursue the prized fish early in the season from Buoy 10 to the Lewis River in Washington.

As they do every year from December through May, threatened eulachon (smelt) are returning from the Pacific Ocean and flooding into the lower Columbia River. The smelt – a 7 in., 2.5 oz. fish – may already be moving into their favorite spawning tributaries, the Cowlitz River in Washington and the Sandy River in Oregon, where their numbers peak in February.

The 2021 upriver spring chinook run, if the fish come in as forecasted, would fall into the bottom 25 percent of runs in the last 40 years, according to a preseason forecast by fisheries managers.

Anglers’ ability to harvest coho salmon in northeast Oregon’s Grande Ronde River for the first time in 40 years started Thursday, Oct. 1.

Estimates of the number of fall chinook salmon, coho salmon and B-Index steelhead entering the Columbia River rose again this week, but, with the exception of the B-Index steelhead and early-stock coho, abundances are still expected to fall short of 10-year averages.

With an in-season forecast this week increasing the Columbia River fall chinook salmon run by 13 percent, Oregon and Washington are opening fall chinook angling Saturday, Sept. 19, one week earlier than preseason fishery plans.

Although there has been no change in expected returns, passage of fall chinook at Bonneville is sufficient to reopen recreational angling opportunities for the fish from Buoy 10 to the Oregon and Washington border, according to the two-state Columbia River Compact at a hearing Wednesday, Sept. 9.

Oregon and Washington Columbia River fisheries managers doubled the bag limit for salmon at the popular Buoy 10 fishery from one coho to two salmon, one of which can be a chinook, Sept. 5 and 6, just in time for the Labor Day weekend.

Oregon and Washington Thursday shut down commercial gillnetting for fall chinook salmon on the mainstem Columbia River, rescinding the last of the seven 12-hour gillnet periods approved last month.

Washington and Oregon extended summer chinook angling through the end of July from the Tongue Point-Rocky Point line, near Astoria, upstream to the border between the two states at the Hwy 395 Bridge near Pasco, Wash. The popular Buoy 10 fishing will open August 14.

Oregon and Washington added seven more days – July 9 to July 15 – of recreational angling for hatchery summer chinook on the mainstem Columbia River, but closed shad fishing in the Bonneville Dam pool as a way to protect endangered Snake River sockeye salmon. Shad fishermen have been catching too many of the sockeye incidentally.

Oregon and Washington are opening a five-day recreational summer chinook angling period on the mainstem Columbia River beginning this weekend after an in-season forecast boosted the anticipated number of chinook entering the river by 58 percent over the preseason forecast.

The only reason there are any fisheries in the Columbia River and tributaries right now is due to the abundance of wild sockeye, wild summer chinook and wild steelhead.

The two-state Columbia River Compact this week abruptly shut down recreational fishing for sockeye salmon on the mainstem Columbia River as anglers exceeded the limit on the number of sockeye allowed.

Columbia River Treaty Tribes will begin commercial gillnetting, along with commercial platform and hook and line fishing, upstream of Bonneville Dam (Zone 6) for summer chinook next week, a plan outlined by the tribes at a two-state Columbia River Compact hearing Monday, June 8. Some platform and hook and line fishing is also planned for downstream of Bonneville.

After a drop in the spring chinook salmon forecast and dire predictions that some hatcheries won’t make broodstock quotas this year, the two-state Columbia River Compact this week shut down mainstem Columbia River fisheries.

An anticipated poor summer run of chinook salmon means no summer chinook fishing this year on the Columbia River mainstem, according to Oregon and Washington. The summer season will be limited to only sockeye and steelhead retention.

After a late start for spring chinook angling on the Columbia River due to Covid-19 closures, Oregon and Washington approved a second four-day fishing period in a hearing Wednesday, May 13.

Oregon and Washington fisheries managers reopened the Columbia River along their border for limited recreational spring chinook and steelhead angling, despite continued concerns about the number of people in boats and at public facilities due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council has adopted ocean salmon season recommendations that provide recreational and commercial opportunities for most of the Pacific coast, and are aimed at achieving conservation goals for the numerous individual salmon stocks on the West Coast.

Three ocean salmon fishery alternatives that were approved for public review Monday, March 9, by the Pacific Fishery Management Council reflect the lowest predicted return of coho salmon to the Columbia River in 20 years.

Oregon and Washington set recreational spring chinook and winter steelhead fishing seasons in the Columbia River downstream of Bonneville Dam that in April limits the number of days per week anglers will be allowed to fish. And, beginning March 1, angling for salmon and steelhead will not be allowed in the river from Warrior Rock at St. Helens, OR downstream to Buoy 10 to protect hatchery fish returning to Cowlitz and Lewis river hatcheries.

In its first hearing of the year, the two-state Columbia River Compact set a commercial smelt gillnet fishery in the lower Columbia River and approved Treaty commercial and hook and line fishing in areas upstream of Bonneville Dam.

Oregon and Washington this week approved some of the last fall fishing of the year for commercial gillnetters and recreational anglers.

Oregon and Washington on Monday approved two lower Columbia River fisheries. One was for four periods (48 hours total) of commercial non-treaty gillnetting and the other for a one-day recreational white sturgeon fishery on Saturday, Oct. 12. But at a Thursday meeting three gillnetting periods were rescinded by the states due to an unexpected high catch rate during the first period.

Tribes will resume commercial gillnetting this week for fall chinook, but for the second time in two weeks one of the four lower Columbia River tribes disagreed with the decision.

The number of summer steelhead forecasted to pass Bonneville Dam and travel into the Snake and Clearwater rivers was downgraded for the third time this month.

After reviewing harvest information, Oregon and Washington abruptly closed the Columbia River to fall chinook angling from Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam as of 12:01 am, Sept. 6, when it became clear that nearly 10 percent more of the fish had been caught throughout the Columbia River than was allocated.

In a hearing this week (Thursday, Sept. 5), the two-state Columbia River Compact set two Saturdays later this month for recreational angling of white sturgeon from Wauna upstream to Bonneville Dam.

The federal approval for a Snake River basin fall chinook salmon plan has given the go-ahead for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to open recreational angling in the Snake, Clearwater and Salmon rivers this week.

With a reduction in the upriver steelhead forecast by 27.2 percent, the two-state Columbia River Compact at its hearing yesterday, Aug. 28, extended the states’ ban on steelhead retention in the mainstem Columbia River that began in August to Sept. 30. The ban on retention is from Buoy 10 in the lower river estuary upstream to The Dalles Dam. The area upstream of The Dalles Dam to the John Day Dam is already closed to steelhead retention.

As of Aug. 24, Oregon will open the river from the Oregon and Washington border up to the Idaho Power dam for a fall chinook run that is anticipated to be 349,700 fish at the Columbia River mouth, which is 47 percent of the 10-year average (2009-2018) of 737,720 adult fall chinook. Still, the forecast is higher than the 2018 actual return of 293,424.

Treaty platform fishing and commercial treaty gillnetting will begin this month for summer chinook and sockeye salmon. Tribes had not had a commercial gillnet fishery during the spring chinook run.

As of last weekend, June 1, the requirement to use barbless hooks to fish for salmon, steelhead and trout in the Columbia River is no longer mandatory.