Eight hours of gillnetting Tuesday night for spring chinook salmon and shad in the lower Columbia River have been approved by Washington and Oregon fishery officials.
The Columbia River Compact Thursday agreed to allow commercial fishing with 8-inch-minimum mesh nets from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Each vessel will be limited to a maximum of six adult fin-clipped spring chinook. The first six fish must be kept and no additional drifts may be conducted.
Jack chinook (shorter than 24 inches) do not count against the landing limit.
The fleet is expected to catch about 225 hatchery chinook from 45 deliveries. That would bring the season catch of upper Columbia-Snake fish to 2,918, or 97 percent of the commercial allocation.
A hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday via teleconference to consider a summer chinook commercial fishing period.
