Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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A chum salmon reintroduction project has quietly and successfully moved beyond its fifth year in the Columbia River between Astoria and Clatskanie. Once one of the most abundant of salmon species in the Columbia River, chum salmon made up as much as 7 percent to 10 percent of historical salmon runs, with as many as 1 million fall-run chum salmon returning to the river in 1928. That was the same year that the commercial harvest of chum was 700,000 fish. The species went into decline due to harvest and as habitat degraded, and has been in...
The forecasted run of fall chinook salmon into the Columbia River rose to 1,095,900, more than 15 percent higher than the preseason forecast of 925,300 chinook. Reporting the increase Sept. 17 to the two-state Columbia River Compact, the U.S. v Oregon Technical Advisory Committee said that of the higher forecast, 685,000 fish are upriver bright chinook and 139,500 are Bonneville Pool Hatchery tule chinook. That, said TAC’s Stewart Ellis, is the third largest run of fall chinook and the second largest run of upriver bright chinook on record. P...
Globally, 60 percent of fish caught by recreational anglers are released and many of those anglers use manual release techniques they believe will help the fish survive. However, according to a recent study, many of those fish will live just a short period of time. The delayed mortality rate can be as high as 35 percent and, as this study determines, catch and release is deadly for female fish. Overall, manual release techniques have little to no impact on survival, the study concluded. The study, published online June 2, 2015, in the...
With the spring chinook salmon run estimate rising above 282,000 fish, the two-state Columbia River Compact added more fishing time for both commercial and treaty Indian gillnetters, while recreational fishing remains open in all zones on the Columbia River up through the John Day pool. The US vs. Oregon regional technical advisory committee (TAC) met June 8 and updated its in-season estimate of the 2015 spring chinook run from 260,000 salmon to 282,000, according to Stewart Ellis, chair of TAC, who also represents the Columbia River Inter-Trib...
The Columbia River Compact on Wednesday approved a new round of commercial fisheries for both tribal and non-Indian commercial netters on the mainstem Columbia that will likely bring to a close what has been a record-breaking harvest on a near-record return of chinook salmon and a revived coho salmon run. “In 2014, the tribal fishery has set a record for modern times for open days of commercial gill-net fishing and had record total catches,” according to an Oct. 8 staff report prepared by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and its...
Tribal and non-tribal commercial fishers, as well as lower Columbia River anglers, are sweeping in tens of thousands of salmon this year even while fishery managers keep a close watch on impacts to protected stocks such as so-called “B” steelhead bound for the most part for Idaho and wild Lower River Hatchery fall chinook salmon tules. The salmon return to the Columbia-Snake river system in 2014 has been huge, though slightly below expectations. In preseason the Technical Advisory Committee’s federal, state and tribal members predicted that...
The Columbia River Compact on Aug. 12 gave the green light to the first commercial seine fishing for salmon on the lower Columbia River mainstem since the nets were prohibited under state law by Washington in 1935 and by Oregon in 1950. The pilot fisheries approved by the bi-state panel will involve 10 permit holders, six approved to use beach seines and four to use purse seines. They are limited to individual fish quotas (IFQ) of 500 chinook kept and 250 coho salmon kept for the beach seiners and 750 chinook and 450 coho for purse seiners....
Aug. 1 marked the opening of the long-awaited fall fishing season on the mainstem Columbia River, which this year is expected to see a record number of fall chinook salmon, a run of coho spawners forecast to be 156 percent of the 2004-2013 average and a summer steelhead return similar to the 10-year average. And both sport and commercial fishers are off and running, even though only the very beginnings of the 2014 fall chinook and coho runs have returned from the Pacific Ocean. Through August 6, 2,492 adult fall chinook had swum 146 miles up...
Menacing “El Nino” signs have eased though not disappeared. But another potential salmon nemesis – an apparent warm phase Pacific Decadal Oscillation – has made an appearance with warmer than average sea surface water conditions from the Gulf of Alaska and the eastern Bering Sea down to the so-called California Current off the coast of Oregon and Washington. “It should be noted that those Columbia/Snake River spring chinook and steelhead stocks that entered the ocean this spring and traveled to the Gulf of Alaska to feed may experienc...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week announced it has extended by 15 days the public comment period on a draft plan detailing possible alternatives to reduce predation by double-crested cormorants on juvenile salmon and steelhead that are listed under the Endangered Species Act. A large number of cormorants nest each spring and summer in the Columbia River estuary. Their primary colony site is East Sand Island, which millions of listed salmonids must pass on their way to the Pacific Ocean. Comments on the Corps’ draft Environmental I...
A next big step down a “presumptive path” toward phasing out non-tribal commercial gill-nets on the lower Columbia River will be the deployment late this summer of 10 permit holders equipped with beach and purse seines, equipment that had been outlawed on the river for more than 60 years. The late fall salmon fisheries stem from fishery management policies adopted in 2013 by the Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife commissions “intended to promote the conservation and recovery of wild salmon and steelhead and provide fishery-related benef...
A next big step down a “presumptive path” toward phasing out non-tribal commercial gill-nets on the lower Columbia River will be the deployment late this summer of 10 permit holders equipped with beach and purse seines, equipment that had been outlawed on the river for more than 60 years. The late fall salmon fisheries stem from fishery management policies adopted in 2013 by the Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife commissions “intended to promote the conservation and recovery of wild salmon and steelhead and provide fishery-related benef...
The sockeye salmon tally this year at the lower Columbia River's Bonneville Dam on July 8 set a record for any season since the construction of the dam was completed in 1938 and the counts began. Mid-summer sockeye spawners counted passing Bonneville through July 8 totaled 526,367, and counting. The record for an entire season was a 515,673 fish count in 2012. Another 12,858 sockeye were counted passing the dam July 9 to up the record to 539,225. Fishery officials as of July 7 estimated that...
With catch limits near, planned commercial fisheries targeting spring chinook salmon in so-called “select areas” in the lower Columbia River estuary were rescinded and/or trimmed back in decisions made this week by Oregon and Washington. That leaves lower Columbia River sport and most commercial fishers idled for the time being as the strength of the 2014 spring chinook run begins to build. The lower river mainstem management area is measured from Bonneville Dam at river mile 146 downstream to the Columbia’s mouth at the Pacific Ocean. Catches...
Coho salmon returns to the Columbia River are expected to rebound in a big way this year, according to forecasts produced by federal, state and tribal fishery officials. Ocean abundance (before any fisheries) of Columbia River early and late run coho is expected to be more than three times larger than last year. A forecast released this week by the Technical Advisory Committee says ocean abundance this year should total 964,100 adult fish as compared to a final estimate of 301,500 for the 2013 run. The 2003-2012 annual average return to the...
The Cathlamet Channel in southwest Washington is about to become the state’s second off-channel or select area commercial gill-net fishery. In a state that has few potential off-channel sites for rearing and fishing on the lower Columbia River, this may be the only remaining site available in Washington. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission approved in January 2013 new limits in the lower Columbia on non-tribal, gill-net fishing in the mainstem of the river as a way to reduce the impact of commercial fishing on wild salmon and steelhead...
Steller sea lion consumption of spawning salmon and steelhead in the waters below the lower Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam continued its upward trend during the late winter-spring of 2013, according to a year-end report prepared by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers research team. Consumption of white sturgeon below the Corps-operated hydro project, however, was the lowest in years. The Corps has since 2002 seen from early winter through May marine mammal predation in the area below the dam. Since the turn of the century a growing number of C...
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife last week released a determination of non-significance under the State Environmental Policy Act that says development of a new commercial fishing area along the lower Columbia River's north shore at Cathlamet will likely not have a significant adverse impact on the environment. The WDFW's main purpose, the document says, is to find an area to raise and release juvenile hatchery spring chinook salmon so that, upon their return from the ocean, commercial fishing seasons can be set to collect those ad...
Light effort and catch so far allowed Oregon and Washington managers to extend on June 23 the white sturgeon season below Wauna on the lower Columbia River despite concerns about the population status of the big fish. The fishery had been scheduled to be open from Jan. 1-April 30, from May 14-June 26 and from July 1-4. But fishery managers on Thursday decided to let fishery continue until July 31 unless catch rates skyrocket and threaten what is a relatively depleted stock. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Steve Williams and W...
A higher-than-anticipated early commercial catch of upriver spring chinook in Columbia River estuary “select areas” forced Oregon and Washington officials to rescind six fishing periods that had been scheduled this week. The upriver spring chinook are bound for hatcheries and tributary spawning grounds above the Columbia’s Bonneville Dam in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Some, however, on their journey inevitably wander through the off-channel select areas, where terminal fisheries are intended to harvest hatchery produced chinook that are r...
