Get hooked on these early schedules for the spring chinook season.Byline: INSIDE THE OUTDOORS By Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard Salmon seasons for 2009 are taking shape. On Friday, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission set spring chinook salmon chinook salmon or king salmon Prized North Pacific food and sport fish (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) of the salmon family. The average weight is about 22 lbs (10 kg), but individuals of 50–80 lbs (22–36 kg) are not unusual. regulations for the Columbia and lower Willamette Rivers. Wednesday, the Pacific Fisheries Management Fisheries management is today often referred to as a governmental system of management rules based on defined objectives and a mix of management means to implement the rules, which is put in place by a system of monitoring control and surveillance (MCS). Council will publish its preseason forecast of ocean salmon abundance. Those estimates are the key factor in determining this summer's ocean salmon seasons and quotas. But we don't have to wait. Word of stock abundance estimates - finalized at meetings held last week - has already spread. The advance guard of the 2009 spring chinook Chinook, indigenous people of North America Chinook (shĭn  k`, chĭ–), Native American tribe of the Penutian linguistic stock. run is already
producing hook-ups for anglers on the Willamette River in Portland, so
let's look at the in-river salmon seasons first.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission signed off Friday on a compromise agreement with their Washington counterparts, with whom they share management responsibility for the Columbia. The spring chinook season will work like this: Through the end of February, Columbia and Willamette river anglers will continue to operate under the permanent rules - fishing allowed seven days per week with a bag limit of two chinook per day. On the Willamette downstream of Willamette Falls The Willamette Falls is a natural waterfall on the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, in the United States. It is the largest waterfall in the Pacific Northwest and the eighteenth largest in the world by water volume. (including Multnomah Channel Multnomah Channel is a branch of the Willamette River a few miles upstream of the Willamette's convergence with the Columbia. Multnomah Channel defines the western side of Sauvie Island before it too joins the Columbia near the city of St. Helens, Oregon. and the lower Clackamas River The Clackamas River is a tributary of the Willamette River, approximately 85 mi (137 km) long, in northwestern Oregon in the United States.The river drains an area of approximately 940 square miles. ) retention of adipose-clipped chinook will continue to be allowed seven days a week from March 1-15. But the bag limit changes to two adult adipose adipose /ad·i·pose/ (ad´i-pos) 1. fatty. 2. the fat present in the cells of adipose tissue. ad·i·pose adj. Of, relating to, or composed of animal fat; fatty. fin-clipped salmon or steelhead, only one of which may be a chinook. Beginning March 19 and continuing through April 30, the season ratchets down to three days per week (Thursday through Saturday). The regulations for May and beyond will be set later, and probably will depend on how the run-size is shaping up compared with projections. The preseason forecast calls for 37,000 Willamette springers to enter the Columbia River. Upstream of Willamette Falls (and in the upper Clackamas River), the river will remain open under permanent rules. That means angling is allowed seven days a week with a two-chinook per day limit. This probably would be changed by emergency rule if fishery managers decide insufficient fish are making it back to their home hatcheries. On the Columbia River, the rules are different in each of three sections. Below the Hayden Island powerlines (west towers), anglers will be allowed to fish seven days a week March 1-15. Then fishing shifts to three days per week (Thursday through Saturday) March 19 through April 18. Upstream of the Hayden Island powerlines to Bonneville Dam, the season will run seven days a week March 1-22, then four days a week (Wednesday-Saturday) March 25-April 22. The daily bag limit in the above sections will be two adipose fin-clipped salmon or steelhead, only one of which may be a chinook. Between Bonneville and McNary dams, season dates of March 16-April 30 were set. Here the bag limit is the normal two adult adipose-fin-clipped chinook or steelhead per day. Because chinook catches in this section of the river are typically low through April, the agencies will work to set additional fishing time after April 30. One final regulation of note on the mainstem Columbia: the retention of adipose fin-clipped steelhead and shad shad, fish, Alosa sapidissima, of the family Clupeidae (herring family), found along the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Florida and successfully introduced on the Pacific coast. The shad is one of the largest (6 lb/2. will be allowed during March and April only on days spring chinook seasons are open. Meanwhile, some details of the ocean salmon abundance forecast have already surfaced - and the news is good. Biologists are predicting 1,284,700 coho coho or silver salmon Species (Oncorhynchus kisutch) of salmon prized for food and sport that ranges from the Bering Sea to Japan and the Salinas River of Monterey Bay, Cal. It weighs about 10 lbs (4. will return to the Oregon Coast and lower Columbia River in 2009. Of those, 1.073 million are expected to be hatchery hatchery a commercial establishment dedicated to the hatching of bird eggs to provide day old chicks and poults to the poultry industry. hatchery liquid the contents of unfertilized eggs. Used in petfood manufacture. coho bound for the Columbia River. In 2008, the PFMC PFMC Pacific Fishery Management Council PFMC Pacific Foundation for Medical Care PFMC Pilgrims of Faith Marian Center predicted that only 216,000 fin-clipped hatchery coho would return to Oregon, and seasons were slashed accordingly. Wild coho returning to the Oregon Coast in 2009 are expected to number 211,600. The PFMC estimates that 165,300 wild adult coho returned in 2008 and 66,100 in 2007. The relatively high wild coho projection, coupled with a high proportion of hatchery fish, should result in a liberal ocean salmon season along most of the Oregon coast this summer. More details will emerge Thursday at the 2009 meeting of the Ocean Salmon Industry Group in Newport. The pre-season planning session provides sport and commercial ocean salmon fishermen an early opportunity to provide recommendations to the Pacific Fishery Management Council The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is an advisory body; it is charged with regulating most fisheries in U.S. federal waters off Washington, Oregon, and California. on how best to utilize the available fish. Sponsored by the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for programs protecting Oregon fish and wildlife resources and their habitats. , the meeting is open to anyone interested in ocean salmon fishery regulations for the 2009 season. The meeting is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. at the Hallmark Resort Hotel, 744 S.W. Elizabeth St., Newport. The PFMC will hold a public hearing on season options March 31 in Coos Bay. A final decision on the 2009 regulations for all West Coast salmon fisheries will come at the agency's April 4-9 meeting in Millbrea, Calif. E-mail Mike Stahlberg at ms@registerguard.com |
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