Surging sockeye far exceed forecasts

As Oregon and Washington canceled the second Bonneville Dam reservoir white sturgeon season and opened up more fishing for commercial gillnetters in the lower Columbia River select area fisheries, the run of sockeye salmon already has exceeded pre-season estimates.

The count of sockeye at Bonneville Dam June 22 was 168,989, already far more than the pre-season forecast of 101,600 fish predicted late last year by the U.S. v Oregon technical advisory committee.

The average 50 percent passage date for the fish is June 27.

“The sockeye run is obviously much larger than the pre-season forecast,” said Jeff Whisler of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the 2016 lead of TAC. Whisler informed the two-state Columbia River Compact of the building sockeye run at the Compact’s hearing Wednesday.

He added that TAC was scheduled to meet Monday to update the run size and to review its current estimate of summer chinook passage.

TAC has forecasted a run of 93,300 adult summer chinook to the Columbia River mouth, which is less than the 2015 return of 126,900 fish, but still 132 percent of the 10-year average of 79,800 adults. They are not a listed run of fish under the federal Endangered Species Act and, in fact, are considered a healthy run of fish.

After last year’s record sockeye salmon run, TAC downgraded its 2016 forecast. An estimated 50 percent of upper Columbia River fish died and about 96 percent of Snake River sockeye died in 2015 due to warm water conditions. Snake River sockeye are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

TAC estimated that 394,000 sockeye would pass the mouth of the Columbia River in 2015, but the actual run totaled 512,500 fish.

At its hearing this week, the Compact canceled the July 1 recreational sturgeon season in the Bonneville pool as the number of sturgeon caught in the first season, June 18, was 185 fish in one day, exceeding the pool’s allotment. While catch and release fishing for sturgeon is allowed, retention of the fish is prohibited in the entire Columbia River from Priest Rapids Dam downstream. Catch and release is prohibited in sturgeon spawning sanctuaries, including one that extends about two miles downstream of The Dalles Dam.

The 2016 Bonneville Pool winter season closed to retention on February 8 with 157 white sturgeon harvested from the 325-fish guideline. In April, the states adopted a summer season consisting of two retention days (June 18 and July 1) to access the balance of 168 white sturgeon remaining on the harvest guideline, according to the Compact’s Summer Fact Sheet No. 2.

While Compact staff had estimated a total catch of 100 fish for the June 18 date and 50 fish for the July 1 date, the actual catch June 18 was 185 fish, exceeding the harvest allotment by 17 white sturgeon. As a result, the Compact rescinded the second season.

However, beginning July 1, recreational sturgeon anglers can harvest hatchery sturgeon from Wanapum and Priest Rapids reservoirs.

This is the first time in two decades that anglers will be allowed to retain sturgeon in this section of the Columbia River, according to Chad Jackson, district fish biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Several thousand juvenile sturgeon were released into the upper Columbia River in 2003 and many have grown to harvestable size, according to recent surveys. WDFW estimates that some 4,000 hatchery sturgeon are in the Wanapum Reservoir and about 2,000 in Priest Rapids Reservoir.

"We believe reducing the number of hatchery fish in these reservoirs will help regional conservation efforts to recover wild sturgeon populations," Jackson said. "We're hoping to remove as many of these hatchery sturgeon as possible."

As part of the plan to recover the white sturgeon populations, state fish managers approved this fishery to reduce interaction between wild fish and hatchery sturgeon. WDFW is implementing a size restriction that is designed to target hatchery sturgeon while protecting larger wild fish, Jackson said.

Recreational anglers can retain two hatchery sturgeon each day between July 1 and Sept. 30. The fish must fall in the range of 38 and 72 inches in length. Sturgeon caught in these reservoirs will not count toward an angler's annual limit for sturgeon. Still, WDFW will monitor the catch and could consider reopening after Sept. 30, according to Jackson.

"We know there are thousands of these hatchery fish residing in Wanapum and Priest Rapids reservoirs," he said. "We don't know whether this will be a onetime opening or if there will be future fishing opportunities."

The Compact also allowed a lower Columbia River commercial select area fishery opening in Blind and Knappa sloughs and at the Tongue Point and South Channel areas.

Landings during the past week have been 60-75 chinook landed per opener in Blind and Knappa sloughs and 55 during the June 20 night period in the Tongue Point and South Channel area. According to Compact staff information, the fish harvested are hatchery fish that originated in the select area.

Whisler added that the number of sockeye harvested so far by the select area fishery is in the single digits. “I don’t expect many sockeye to be caught in this fishery,” he said.

“These are fish that were raised to be caught,” said Ron Roler, Compact lead for WDFW.