Gillnetters on the river Wednesday night

On Tuesday, the Columbia River Compact approved two 12-hour openings for commercial fishers on the Columbia River.

The first ran from last night to today (Wednesday and Thursday). The second will start at 7 p.m. July 14 and close at 7 a.m. July 15.

An eight-hour non-Indian commercial fishing period occurred on June 17. Catch included 2,101 Chinook and 243 sockeye. Total catch currently represents 70 percent of the 2,996 adult Chinook allocated. A balance of 895 fish remains available for commercial harvest.

Effort is expected to be between 20-40 deliveries each period, with a catch expectation of 550 Chinook the first period and 350 Chinook on the second. Sockeye catch is expected to total around 100 fish for both periods.

Passage at Bonneville Dam through July 6 includes 72,366 adult Chinook and 434,090 sockeye. On July 6, the Compact's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) provided an in-season forecast of 100,000 adult Chinook and 480,000 sockeye returning to the Columbia River.

The summer Chinook forecast is the largest since at least 1961 and the sockeye forecast is the third largest on record.

Based on the current forecast and management agreements for adult summer Chinook, a total of 31,818 fish are available for treaty harvest and 9,988 fish are available for non-Indian in-river harvest downstream of Priest Rapids Dam.

Based on the current forecast and ESA limits, a total of 33,600 sockeye are available for treaty harvest and 4,800 sockeye are available for non-Indian harvest down stream of the Highway 395 Bridge between Kennewick and Pasco.