Summer chinook salmon returns in the Columbia River will be at least 16 percent greater than forecast, prompting Washington and Oregon to extend angling through July 31 plus allow a wild chinook in the daily bag limit beginning Friday.
Jeff Whisler, a biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, told state officials on Tuesday that the summer chinook run forecast was upgraded on Monday to 85,000 from the initial prediction of 73,000.
The sockeye forecast also has been upgraded, from the initial 394,000 to 450,000 fish.
Sport salmon angling downstream of Bonneville Dam was scheduled to be closed beginning Tuesday. Summer chinook fishing has been open since June 16 with a two-fish limit, however chinook and steelhead have to be fin-clipped hatchery fish.
Starting Friday, the limit will be two salmon or steelhead, but only one chinook. Steelhead still must be fin-clipped, but any chinook or sockeye may be retained.
Sportsmen downstream of Bonneville Dam are allowed 4,348 summer chinook at a run size of 85,000. Through Sunday, there had been 16,805 angler trips with 1,603 adult chinook kept and 1,112 chinook released.
Had fishing been extended through July 31, but only hatchery chinook allowed, there would have been 1,483 chinook left on the allocation, which is 34 percent. Even with adding one wild chinook to the daily bag limit, slightly more than 1,000 will be left at season’s end, Whisler said.
Sportsmen lobbied Washington and Oregon officials to drop the fin-clip rule and allow wild chinook in the bag limit.
“Releasing fish in 72-degree water is not a conservation move,” said Robert Moxley of Dundee, Ore., a member of the bistate Columbia River Recreation Advisor Group.
Moxley and Pat O’Grady, owner of Warrenton Auto and Marine Repair, suggested giving the unused share of the sport allocation to lower Columbia River commercial fishermen.
Biologist Stuart Ellis, chairman of the Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee, said the 85,000 chinook forecast is a cautious number and the run might number close to 100,000 by July 31.
Chinook entering the Columbia beginning Aug. 1 are categorized as fall chinook.
The water temperature at Bonneville Dam was almost 71 degrees on Monday, which was the hottest temperature for a June 29 since at least 1950. The 10-year average temperature for June 28 at Bonneville is 63 degrees.
Ellis also told the Washington-Oregon joint hearing grim news about Columbia River water temperatures.
Temperatures at Bonneville Dam likely will reach 72 degrees by the end of the week.
At 72 degrees, federal protocols no longer allow handing of salmon and steelhead at trapping and monitoring stations such as Bonneville Dam
Water temperatures of 74 degrees were recorded in two locations in the Snake River basin, he said.
“We’re seeing August-type temperatures in late June,” said Guy Norman, regional director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
