|
* * * IMPORTANT NOTICE * * *
You are currently viewing the old OUTDOOR CENTRAL.COM website ARCHIVES. For the latest in hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation
related news, and an ALL NEW experience, including user friendly navigation,
search capabilities, an Outdoor Central Video Network, and more, be sure to
visit our NEW WEBSITE, located at
http://www.outdoorcentral.com. Visit the new, improved
website, you'll be glad you did! CLICK
HERE |
|
|
7/30/2007
NEWS RELEASE
WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
|
Contact: WDFW Region 5 Office (360) 696-6211
Salmon fishing opens Aug. 1 on Columbia River
under new rules to conserve wild tules
OLYMPIA – Salmon fishing opens Aug. 1 on a large section of the Columbia
River, where several new regulations will be in effect to conserve wild
chinook runs that are falling short of federal recovery goals.
Those wild chinook, sometimes known as “tules,” are early-returning fish
that spawn in tributaries to the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam.
In April, at the direction of the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS), fishery managers from Washington and Oregon adopted additional
conservation measures to protect tule runs listed for protection under the
federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
New recreational fishing rules in effect this year:
 | Require anglers to release any chinook salmon they catch in the
popular Buoy 10 fishery near the mouth of the Columbia River from Aug.
1-22 and from Sept. 4-30.
|
| Prohibit retention of chinook salmon from Sept. 5-30 from the lower
end of Bachelor Island (just upstream from the mouth of the Lewis River)
to a projected line between Tongue Point and Rocky Point near Astoria.
|
| Establish sanctuaries in the lower Cowlitz and Lewis river where
chinook retention will be prohibited from Sept. 5-30. In addition, the
entire Coweeman River will be closed to all fishing in September and
October to protect spawning tule chinook salmon. |
In all rivers except the Coweeman, anglers will be able to catch and
retain hatchery coho and hatchery steelhead without interruption during the
fall season.
The new rules to protect tule chinook salmon were established by
Washington and Oregon fishery managers during the annual North of Falcon
season-setting process, said Bill Tweit, Columbia River policy leader for
the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Those measures also
included smaller catch quotas in the ocean fishery and new limitations on
commercial fishing in the lower Columbia River.
All new regulations affecting recreational fishing are reflected in
WDFW’s Fishing in Washington rules pamphlet, available online (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/fishregs.htm)
and at fishing-license vendors throughout the state, he said.
“Most anglers who fish the Columbia River Basin have known about these
new rules for some time,” Tweit said. “But these regulations to increase
protection for tule runs are a change from previous years, and we want to
make sure everyone is aware of them.”
A federal recovery plan released by NMFS in 2006 sets goals for tule
returns to the Coweeman, Lewis and Grays rivers totaling nearly 8,000
spawners per year. In recent years, less than a thousand tules have returned
to those three rivers combined.
“The new rules are specifically designed to reduce the harvest of the
lower Columbia River tules, while maximizing fishing opportunities for
harvestable hatchery fish, upriver brights and other abundant salmon and
steelhead stocks,” Tweit said.
Below is a summary of fishing seasons opening Aug. 1 in the Columbia
River Basin:
| North Jetty – Salmon fishing opens seven days per week when the
Marine Area 1 (Ilwaco) or Buoy 10 areas are open for salmon. Barbed hooks
are allowed. The daily limit and minimum size restrictions follow the most
liberal regulations of either of these areas.
|
| Buoy 10 – Salmon fishing opens from the Buoy 10 to the Tongue
Point/Rocky Point line through Dec. 31. The daily limit is two salmon. As
part of that limit, one adult chinook may be retained per day from Aug. 22
to Sept. 3 and from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Anglers must release all sockeye,
chum or wild coho.
|
| Lower Columbia River – Salmon fishing opens from the Rocky
Point/Tongue Point line upstream to Bonneville Dam. The daily limit will
be six fish, including no more than two adults – only one of which may be
an adult chinook. Any chinook, adipose fin clipped or not, may be
retained. Anglers must release wild coho, sockeye and chum. Anglers will
also be required to release all chinook Sept. 5-30 downstream from a line
from a boundary marker on the lower end of Bachelor Island across to the
Warrior Rock Lighthouse.
|
| Bonneville Dam to the Highway 395 Bridge at Pasco – Anglers may
retain six salmon, of which no more than two can be adults. Any chinook,
fin-clipped or not, may be retained. Anglers must release any wild coho
they encounter from Bonneville Dam to Hood River Bridge and any chum
intercepted downstream from The Dalles Dam. Night closure and non-buoyant
lure restrictions will be in effect in the Bonneville Pool through Oct.
15.
|
| Columbia Tribuaries – Anglers will be able to retain chinook
salmon, adipose clipped or unclipped, on the Deep, Green, Toutle
(including North Fork), Washougal, Cowlitz, Kalama, Lewis, (including
North Fork), Wind, White Salmon and Klickitat rivers plus Drano Lake. Wild
coho must be released on all these tributaries except for the Klickitat.
Non-buoyant lure restrictions will be in effect on the Wind, White Salmon,
Klickitat rivers and Drano Lake.
Bonus daily limits will be in effect for hatchery adult coho on the
Lower Cowlitz, Deep, Green, Kalama, Lewis (including North Fork), and
Toutle (including North Fork) rivers. All salmon other than chinook or
coho must be released on the lower Cowlitz. Camas Slough will be open when
adjacent mainstem Columbia or Washougal rivers are open to fishing for
salmon. The daily limit follows the most liberal regulation of either
area. |
For additional information, see WDFW’s Fishing in Washington rules
pamphlet, available online at .
<%server.execute "/search-similar.asp"%>
Click Here To Return To The Previous Page |
