Chinook run is second largest

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.

Passage over Bonneville Dam as of Sept. 17, was 634,614 adult fall chinook, about 71 percent of the anticipated upriver run.

In addition, “fall chinook over Lower Granite Dam is the highest cumulative total to date and the Snake River hatcheries are well on their way to meeting their recruitment goals,” he said.

Recruitment goals for Washougal, Kalama, Bonneville and Big Creek hatcheries are also close to being met.

TAC downgraded its run estimate of upriver summer steelhead to 250,000 fish. The previous run estimate had been 298,800 fish. TAC has not updated the Group B-run size, but noted the run is tracking less than expected. Additionally, TAC expects the A-run steelhead to come in higher than the prior update of 206,100 fish, according to Compact information.

Passage of the upriver steelhead populations over Bonneville Dam total 232,736 fish as of Sept. 17. Of those, 86,904 are wild.

The preseason forecast for coho salmon is nearly 540,000 and includes a strong upriver component, according to Compact information, but passage at Bonneville is tracking behind expectations, with 20,013 as of Sept. 17.

The higher fall chinook forecast means that recreational, treaty Indian and non-Indian commercial gillnetters can take up to 2,500 more fall chinook, according to Compact information.

At its meeting last week, the Compact gave commercial non-Indian gillnetters the opportunity to fish for nine hours Sept. 15 -Sept. 16. The catch was 11,200 fish but with surprisingly small impacts to the chinook listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Those impacts to listed fish are expected to continue to decline as most of the fish have already passed Bonneville Dam. The non-Indian commercial gillnetters are allotted a total catch of 19,400 fall chinook for the month.

At a second Compact meeting Thursday, the two states extended non-Indian commercial fishing for two 10-hour periods Sunday and Wednesday of this week.

Catch estimates for the two days of fishing are 10,000 to as many as 13,000 fall chinook.

ESA impacts are expected to total 10 percent for upriver bright chinook (15 percent is allowed), and 1.9 percent for B-run steelhead at an assumed run size of 30,000 fish (2 percent is allowed).

The Compact was meeting Wednesday morning at press time; it would consider extending the late-fall chinook fishery at least one more day.

With nearly three-quarters of the upriver fall chinook already over Bonneville Dam and half the month already behind them, lower Columbia River commercial gillnetters are worried that with fishing periods so late in the month they are missing opportunities to catch the bright chinook, the most valuable of the fish. These have the highest market value, currently selling at around $2.40 a pound, according to commercial gillnetter Les Clark. Tules are selling for just $0.50 a pound, he added.

“The economic impacts are starting to be huge,” he said. “We’re certainly not getting the quality as it gets later in the season.”

Last year, commercial gillnetters fished Sept. 14 to Sept. 16, catching over 21,000 fall chinook over the three fishing periods, Jeff Whistler of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said at the Compact's Tuesday meeting.

As part of the North of Falcon negotiations, commercial fisheries receive a total of 2.6 percent of the impacts for ESA-listed wild tule fall chinook.

One factor for delaying commercial gillnetting was the number of wild tules, which this week, according to the Compact staff, is tracking ahead of expectations at Bonneville Dam. Another was a concern that the escapement to hatcheries meets the hatchery goals for broodstock. That also is tracking at or above preseason expectations.

Harvest wrap-up:

--Harvest by non-Indian commercial gillnetters during nine fishing periods in August was 33,400 fall chinook. The preseason expectation was for the gillnetters to catch 47,500 fish. Tule impacts were 1.6 percent. The preseason expectation was 1.7 percent.

--The select area fisheries in the lower Columbia River estuary have caught 10,100 chinook and 9,700 coho, far below average, according to Compact information.

--The Columbia River experimental seine fishery harvest is 819 chinook and 709 coho. Ten seine permits were allowed (six beach seine permits and four purse seine permits), but only seven permits have been awarded. Harvest of 5,000 chinook and 1,700 coho are allowed. The seine fishery is allocated 10 percent of the commercial gillnetters 19,400 fish.

--The treaty Indian fishery has taken 129,133 fall chinook salmon (68,209 are upriver brights) and 9,101 steelhead (726 are B-run steelhead). The anticipated take by Sept. 25 is 207,533 chinook (110,409 upriver brights) and 14,001 steelhead (1,426 B-run).

The North of Falcon ocean fisheries are ongoing and the recreational fisheries in this area are projected to use approximately 83 percent of the 3.7 percent preseason Lower Columbia River natural tule allocation, leaving a balance of around 0.63 percent. According to Compact information, the left-over allocation could be applied to in-river fisheries.

--In Columbia River recreational fisheries, the Buoy 10 fishery harvested 29,700 chinook, both natural and hatchery, in 65,500 angler trips between August 1 and 23. After that (August 24 to 28) anglers were limited to marked fish only, catching 6,400 more chinook on 18,600 angler trips. Buoy 10 closed to chinook August 29.

The lower river hatchery stock composition of the nearly 40,000 coho caught in the Buoy 10 fishery was higher than expected preseason (22 percent versus the 17 percent predicted preseason).