OUTDOORS: Ocean salmon fishing options presented to public

OCEAN-GOING ANGLERS take note: salmon seasons will be reduced this summer.

That’s the takeaway from the options developed by salmon managers for ocean salmon fisheries that reflect concerns over poor projected returns of coho and chinook.

Three alternatives for ocean salmon fisheries were approved Wednesday for public review by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which establishes fishing seasons in ocean waters 3 to 200 miles off the Pacific coast.

The three options are designed to protect the low numbers of wild coho and chinook expected to return to the Columbia River and other Washington rivers this year while still providing some fishing opportunities, said Kyle Adicks, salmon fisheries policy lead for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We’ll use this range of options to work with stakeholders to develop a final fishing package for 2018 that meets our conservation objectives for wild salmon,” Adicks said. “We know that ocean salmon quotas for chinook will be the lowest in several years and that coho quotas will be limited again this year due to weak forecasted returns to several rivers.”

Quota options

The alternatives include the following quotas for recreational fisheries off the Washington coast:

• Alternative 1: 32,500 chinook and 42,000 coho ( Marine areas 1 (Ilwaco), 3 (La Push) and 4 (Neah Bay) would open June 23, while Marine Area 2 (Westport) would open July 1.

All four areas would be open daily through Sept. 3. This option would have a fishery scheduled from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14 in the La Push late-season area.

This alternative most closely resembles ocean fisheries last summer, when PFMC adopted recreational ocean fishing quotas of 45,000 chinook and 42,000 coho salmon.

• Alternative 2: 27,500 chinook and 29,400 coho. Marine areas 1, 3 and 4 would be open daily June 30 to Sept. 3, while Marine Area 2 would be open five days per week (Sunday through Thursday) June 24 to Sept. 3. This option would also have a fishery scheduled from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14 in the La Push late-season area.

• Alternative 3: 22,500 chinook and 16,800 coho. All four marine areas would be open July 1 to Sept. 3. Marine Area 2 would be open Sundays through Thursdays while the other areas would be open daily. This option does not include a late fishery in the La Push area.

For more details about the options, visit www.pcouncil.org/blog.

A public hearing on the three alternatives is scheduled for March 26 in Westport. More details are available online at tinyurl.com/PDN-SalmonHearings.

This year’s forecast of Columbia River fall chinook is down more than 50 percent from the 10-year average. About 112,500 hatchery chinook are expected to return to the lower Columbia River. Those fish, known as “tules” are the backbone of the recreational ocean chinook fishery.

Meanwhile, fishery managers expect 286,200 Columbia River hatchery coho to return to the Washington coast, down about 100,000 fish from last year’s forecast. Only 279,300 coho actually returned last year to the Columbia River, where some coho stocks are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Unfavorable environmental conditions, such as warm ocean water and flooding in rivers, have reduced the number of salmon returning to Washington’s waters, Adicks said.

Chinook and coho quotas approved by the PFMC will be part of a comprehensive 2018 salmon-fishing package, which includes marine and freshwater fisheries throughout Puget Sound, the Columbia River and Washington’s coastal areas. State and tribal co-managers are currently developing those other fisheries.

State and tribal co-managers will complete the final 2018 salmon fisheries package in conjunction with PFMC during its April meeting in Portland, Ore.

The public can comment on the proposed ocean alternatives and provide their thoughts on other salmon fisheries at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/northfalcon. A schedule of public meetings, as well as salmon run-size forecasts and more information about the salmon-season setting process also can be found.

Volunteer training

The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge will hold its annual new volunteer training from 8 a.m. to noon Friday, April 6 at the Sequim Prairie Grange Hall, 290 Macleay Road in Sequim.

A lunch will follow from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Returning volunteers are asked to attend the Refuge’s annual refresher from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Primary volunteer duties include greeting visitors and providing information about the Refuge’s trails and wildlife. Additional opportunities include wildlife surveys, invasive species mitigation, habitat restoration, maintenance, beach cleanup and administration.

For more information and to reserve a spot at the training, phone the refuge office at 360-457-8451 or email david_falzetti@fws.gov.

No smelt down south

For the first time in five years, the Cowlitz River will not open to smelt dipping.

A commercial test fishery conducted last month in the Columbia River showed that area smelt abundance is too low to warrant a recreational fishery this year, state fishery managers said.

Laura Heironimus, a fish manager with Fish and Wildlife, said gillnet boats participating in the test fishery near the mouth of the Cowlitz River landed less than 130 pounds of smelt after eight days of fishing.

“That’s well below the 250-pound average daily catch benchmark for opening a recreational fishery,” Heironimus said. “We also didn’t see the frenzied activity by birds and sea lions last month that usually occurs during a healthy smelt run.”

Eulachon, more commonly known as smelt, were listed in 2010 as a threatened species from Washington state to the Mexican border under the federal Endangered Species Act.

For the past two years, the recreational dip-net fishery on the Cowlitz River has been limited to a six-hour period on a single day.

“We know people really enjoy this fishery, but we can’t open it in good conscience knowing the abundance is so low,” Heironimus said. “The smelt population appears to be declining again after gaining some ground, so it’s hard to say whether we’ll be able to open a fishery next year.”

A good joke

I saw truth in this observation about coyotes from Los Angeles comedian Eliza Skinner on Twitter.

“Coyotes don’t run away — they pause and stare — like they’re trying to place you. One did this to me on the way home and I rolled down the window and said ‘I used to bartend at a fondue place?’ He snapped his paw and said ‘Right, that’s it,’ and trotted off in the rain.”

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