Salmon season looks up

Lots of chinook, fewer coho seen

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Saturday, April 13, 2002

WESTPORT -- Salmon anglers on the Washington coast can look forward to a season nearly as good as last year.

A strong return of Columbia River chinook salmon means plenty of fish and a long season.

However, this year's coho run will be less impressive than last year.

The charter boat sport fishing salmon season off Westport begins May 25 with a five-week, chinook-only season open seven days a week.

The regular chinook and coho season starts June 30 and will be open Sundays through Thursdays. The season extends into September.

"It'll be good for Westport and all the coastal ports," said Mark Cedergreen, executive director of the Westport Charterboat Association.

It's the first early chinook-only season in 15 years.

"There's a lot of hatchery chinook out there," Cedergreen said.

Last year, the numbers were reversed, with a lot of coho available and a good number of chinook.

The Pacific Fishery Management Committee this week set salmon fishing seasons that are generally better than last year off California and Washington.

The season is nearly as good off Oregon, where concerns over weak coho stocks prompted some restrictions.

"Columbia River fall chinook are the backbone of this year's ocean fisheries, and anticipated strong runs have resulted in fisheries quotas that are significantly larger than in 2001," said Phil Anderson, chief of Fish and Wildlife's intergovernmental affairs.

"The great abundance of chinook means additional fishing opportunity in late spring and early summer," Anderson said. "We haven't had the abundance to support these early fisheries since the early 1980s."

Recreational chinook salmon fishing from Ilwaco in the south to Neah Bay in the north begins May 25 and runs every day through June 16.

A second recreational fishing season for coho and chinook begins June 30 in the Westport area, and July 7 in the Ilwaco, LaPush and Neah Bay areas.

In other portions of Washington, anglers should expect roughly the same fishing opportunities as in 2001, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reported.

The abundance of chinook contrasts sharply with low numbers of Columbia River hatchery coho and coastal wild coho. The low number of Oregon coastal wild coho and Canada's Fraser River coho led to a reduction in coho quotas.

Overall, projections are that anglers will catch 242,500 chinook and 197,100 coho coastwide.

Drought hurt coho

Ocean salmon seasons have been slowly edging back since 1994, when precipitous declines forced a closure of all coho fishing and sharp cutbacks on chinook.

Biologists blamed a combination of freshwater habitat losses to logging, agriculture, development and dams, plus ocean conditions that produced little food for fish.

This is the second year that a shift in ocean conditions has produced strong salmon returns to Washington, Oregon and California in numbers not seen in decades.

Biologists say a change in ocean conditions is producing lots of food for fish in the region.

But projections for Columbia River hatchery coho, which spend less time in the ocean than chinook, are sharply down, forcing some restrictions on commercial chinook seasons and sport coho seasons.

The decline in coho numbers may be related to last year's drought, when low flows in the Columbia River shrank the plume of fresh water flowing into the ocean, which made it harder for young salmon to escape predators and disperse in the ocean.

"Based on the drought we had last year, I would be very surprised if the next two years are very good news," for chinook and coho, said Hans Radke, a natural resources economist and chairman of the council.

Meanwhile, with most salmon returns expected to be similar to last year, Anderson said that the final package looks a lot like the 2001 package -- except on the Columbia River.

The preseason forecast on the Columbia is for a return of 677,000 chinook, compared to 365,000 last year, Anderson said.

The anticipated high return of Columbia River chinook means plenty of fishing for commercial and recreational anglers.

But the expected return of Columbia River coho is only about 360,000 fish, compared to about 1.5 million returned last year. The low number means fisheries managers must shape fishing seasons to protect the weak stocks.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional councils established by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 and manages fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.

The council has representatives from Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Alaska state fisheries management agencies, federal and tribal fisheries management agencies, and commercial and recreational fishing representatives.

"We feel confident in our ability to protect weak coho stocks while still offering good fishing opportunity on healthier runs," Anderson said.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445 and at nnokkent@olympia.gannett.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Salmon season 2002

- South Puget Sound: Open daily May 1 through June 30 with a two-fish daily limit, one of which may be a 22-inch-minimum chinook. Carr Inlet is closed.

- Westport: Open daily May 25 through June 16 for chinook only, two fish per day. Open Sundays through Thursdays, June 30 through Aug. 15, and daily Aug. 16 through Sept. 8. There is a two fish per day limit, and kept coho must have a healed adipose fin clip.

- Ilwaco: Open daily May 25 through June 16 for chinook only, two fish per day. Open Sundays through Thursdays, July 7 through Aug. 15 and daily Aug. 16 through Sept. 30, two fish per day. Kept coho must have a healed adipose fin clip.

More information

Details of the salmon season will be in a fishing rules pamphlet available May 1 on the Internet at www.wa.gov/wdfw.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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