Pikeminnow station collects fish

A white van sits in the corner of the parking lot, overlooking the still waters of the Elochoman Slough Marina. A banner drapes over the vehicle’s rear-end announcing in red lettering, “Sport-Reward Fishery Registration Station."

In a camp chair, at a fold-out table, Tyson (last name unavailable) signs up Wahkiakum County fishermen who are joining efforts to save salmon and getting paid to go fishing. This is all part of a program funded by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) called the Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program. Essentially, BPA is paying anglers for turning in northern pikeminnow in order to partially lessen the impact of the Columbia River hydroelectric system on salmon.

“You can get paid $4 to $8 for northern pikeminnow, 9 inches or larger, caught in the lower Columbia,” explained Katie Pruder of the Bonneville Dam Administration. “The more fish you catch, the more money you make. The first 100 are worth $4. After 100, they’re worth $5 each; and after 400 they’re worth $8 each.”

“If you catch one of our special tagged fish, we have close to a couple thousand we put out each year, you’ll earn $500,” added Russell Porter of Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. “There are tags from this year and tags from previous years that still may be out there. We get a couple hundred back each year that people catch.”

Though northern pikeminnow are native to our area, research suggests that they eat millions of juvenile salmon and steelhead each year in the Columbia and Snake River systems. The goal of the program is not to eliminate northern pikeminnow, but rather to reduce the average size and curtail the number of larger older fish. The program runs through September 30 with the intention of increasing the number of salmon and steelhead that make it out to sea.

Locating pikeminnow is not easy. However, BPA hopes to make the search worthwhile for northwest anglers. “Some of our top anglers last year, the top 20, made anywhere from $20,000 to almost $50,000”," said Gloria Schilperoort, from Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Statistics show that the program has been successful. Since 1990, over 3.9 million northern pikeminnow have been removed by the Sport Reward Fishery. Predation on juvenile salmonids has been cut by an estimated 40 percent.

So there from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. sits Tyson or another Fish and Wildlife employee, waiting to collect the anglers’ bounty in large white coolers.

“If I am here, you can register,” he said and clearly local fishermen have been taking note. Since the fishery began on May 1, 3,577 pikeminnow have now been brought into Cathlamet Marina including 985 angler registrations.