With A Continued Strong Fall Chinook Run (Above 10-Year Average), States Extend Recreational Fishing Below Bonneville, Add Gillnetting Days
September 22nd, 2023
With a higher in-season forecast of Chinook salmon tracking above the 5- and 10-year average, Oregon and Washington reopened all the Columbia River downstream of Bonneville Dam to recreational angling for Chinook and hatchery coho as of Sept. 22. The reopening is for the remainder of this year.
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More Recreational Salmon Fishing Days Added Below Bonneville; With New Washington Policy, States Disagree On Gillnetting Periods
September 15th, 2023
With an upgraded fall chinook run, fishery managers from Oregon and Washington added more recreational salmon fishing opportunity on the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam during a joint Columbia River Compact hearing Wednesday. But the hearing took an unusual turn when Washington and Oregon diverged on how much more commercial gillnetting should be allowed, and where.
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Columbia River Fish Run Update: Upriver Steelhead Forecast Shoots Upward, Managers Allow More Buoy 10 Fishing, Gillnetting
September 8th, 2023
The forecast for Columbia River upriver summer steelhead passing Bonneville Dam nearly doubled more than a week ago to more than 90,000 fish, with some of those fish already arriving in Idaho rivers.
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White Sturgeon Fishing Closed On Much Of Columbia River After Dead Adult Fish Found In Warming Waters
July 27th, 2023
With higher-than-normal numbers of adult-size sturgeon found dead in several pools of the Columbia River so far this summer, white sturgeon fishing will close on a large portion of the mid-Columbia beginning Saturday, July 29, fishery managers from Washington and Oregon announced Wednesday.
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Alaska To Test New Selective Harvest Setnet Gear, Looking For Way To Catch Surplus Sockeye While Protecting Kenai King Salmon At Historic Lows
July 27th, 2023
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced this month that it will be conducting a study of set net harvest selectivity for sockeye and king salmon in Upper Cook Inlet. This study will take place along the Kenai Peninsula in the Upper Subdistrict of Cook Inlet at a set net site located approximately one mile south of the mouth of the Kenai River began July 8 and continuing until August 10.
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When Ocean Warms, Chinook Bycatch In Pacific Hake Fishery Rises; Changing Water Temperatures Affect Salmon Distribution
July 13th, 2023
Rates of Chinook salmon bycatch in the Pacific hake fishery rise during years when ocean temperatures are warmer, a signal that climate change and increased frequency of marine heatwaves could lead to higher bycatch rates, new research indicates.
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Ninth Circuit Rules For NOAA, Southeast Alaska Trollers Over Incidental Take; Fishing For Chinook Salmon Can Begin July 1
June 29th, 2023
Southeast Alaska commercial trollers will begin fishing for Chinook salmon July 1 after a ruling by a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed an early May decision in a Washington federal district court. That previous decision shut down the summer and winter fishery.
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With Summer Chinook Returns Running Way Below Forecasted, Another Columbia River Fishing Season Shuts Down Early
June 29th, 2023
With a lower-than-expected return of summer Chinook to the Columbia River, Washington and Oregon will close the river downstream of Priest Rapids Dam to recreational angling for the fish July 1, bringing the summer season that began June 15 --and was to go to July 31 -- to an abrupt end.
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Judge Rejects Challenges On Ruling Halting Southeast Alaska Salmon Troll Fishing; Parties’ Appeals Now Move To Ninth Circuit
June 8th, 2023
All parties, both plaintiffs and defendants, along with the State of Alaska, have unsuccessfully challenged the results of a recent lower federal court decision that vacated a part of NOAA Fisheries’ 2019 biological opinion governing Southeast Alaska’s summer and winter commercial troll fishing for Chinook salmon. The litigation now moves to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.