Offshore salmon seasons will look much different this summer along most of the Oregon coast as managers struggle to ensure the safety of declining fall chinook returning to Northern California.
And changes are in store for the Columbia River as well, with Oregon and Washington biologists crafting their own fall seasons in an effort to avoid last year’s pre-Labor Day shutdown of the Buoy 10 chinook fishery.
Ocean regulations approved this week by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:
Leadbetter Point (tip of Long Beach Peninsula) to Cape Falcon (near Manzanita): June 24 to Sept. 30 or a caught quota of 79,800 coho salmon; chinook guideline is 11,490; bag limit two salmon, but no more than one chinook; all coho must be fin-clipped.
Cape Falcon to the Oregon/California border: June 17 to Aug. 31 or a caught quota of 110,000 coho; all coho must be fin-clipped; no chinook fishing allowed until Sept. 1.
Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain: Sept. 1-30 for any coho, clipped or unclipped with a quota of 25,000; one chinook per day allowed within the two-salmon bag limit; Oct. 1-31 for one salmon per day (including chinook), but no coho, with fishing allowed from the shoreline to the 40-fathom line.
Note: Fall seasons for coastal estuaries won’t be set until late spring. The Tillamook bubble fishery will not open until Sept. 1.
Summer chinook: June 16 through July 31 from the Astoria-Megler Bridge upriver to the U.S. 395 Bridge at Pasco, Washington; two fish daily; must be fin-clipped.
Buoy 10 to West Puget Island: Aug. 1 through Labor Day, with five closed days — Aug 21-23 and 28-29 — for two fish daily, but only one may be a chinook; all salmon, including chinook, must be fin-clipped; After Labor Day, chinook retention closes, but the hatchery coho limit increases to three daily.
West Puget Island to Warrior Rock: Aug. 1 through Labor Day, two-fish bag limit, but one chinook only; no fin-clip required on chinook, but all coho must be fin-clipped. After Labor Day all salmon fishing closes until Oct. 1 (for fin-clipped coho only).
Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam: Aug. 1 through Sept. 14; two-fish bag limit, but one chinook only; no fin-clip required on chinook, but all coho must be fin-clipped. After Sept. 14, all salmon fishing closes until Oct. 1 (for fin-clipped coho only).
Bonneville Dam upriver to U.S. 395 Bridge at Pasco, Washington: Aug. 1 through Oct. 15; daily bag limit is two salmon, but one chinook only; all coho must be fin-clipped downstream from the Hood River Bridge but any coho is legal upriver from the bridge; Oct. 16 through Dec. 31 for two salmon, but no chinook allowed. Same rules as before for coho.
— Bill Monroe for The Oregonian/OregonLive