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http://159.54.226.83:80/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070411/OUTDOORS/704110335/1034
Coho seasons get
bump this year
Allowed catch of Chinook is less
on Columbia River
HENRY MILLER
Statesman Journal
April
11, 2007
Ocean
fishing for hatchery coho will
open June 23 off the central and
southern Oregon Coast with more
than double the 2006 total allowed
catch.
"That's
awesome, great," said Corie
McGranahan, the skipper of the
charter boat Reel Nauti out of
Depoe Bay. "The fact that they're
actually going to keep us open is
so cool, because the last couple
years we get a quota, and we catch
3 (percent), maybe 4 percent of
it, and they cut us off."
Salmon
seasons were approved last week by
the Pacific Fishery Management
Council after a weeklong series of
meetings in Seattle.
On
Friday in Salem, members of the
Oregon Fish and Wildlife
Commission will hear about the
seasons during their April
meeting.
The
total allowed hatchery coho catch
is 50,000 fish between Cape
Falcon, about 30 miles south of
the Columbia River mouth, and the
California border.
That's
more than double the 20,000
hatchery coho that were allowed in
2006.
"You
know, coho really are like our
Aspen ski resort here," said Liz
Hamilton, the executive director
of the Northwest Sportfishing
Industry Association. "It's what
people go to the coast to fish
for; it's fabulous."
Coho
fishing opens June 23 and runs
seven days per week through Sept.
16 or the landing of the total
allowed catch.
The
season is shorter south of Humbug
Mountain, just south of Port
Orford, to the California border.
It closes Sept. 4 there.
The
downside to the salmon situation
is Columbia River fall-run
Chinook.
Because
of a predicted low return, the
allowed Chinook sport catch off
the mouth of the Columbia -- Cape
Falcon north to Ledbetter Point,
Wash. -- is about half (4,300
fish) of the allowed catch in 2006
(8,300).
But,
again, the allowed catch of
hatchery coho is up: 58,800 this
year compared with of 36,600 in
2006.
Although
salmon seasons are the lead item
on the commission agenda, there's
more on the plate:
Before
the discussion and vote on the
salmon seasons, Steve Williams
will give an update about hazing
efforts to reduce sea lion
predation of salmon.
Hazing
efforts are under way at the mouth
of the Rogue River on the south
coast and at the fish ladders at
Bonneville Dam on the Columbia
River.
Williams
is the assistant Fish Division
administrator for the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A final
discussion, public input and vote
about removing the American and
Arctic peregrine falcons from the
state Endangered Species List.
A
presentation, discussion and
listening to public input about
the final draft-management plans
for the Jewell Meadows and Wenaha
Wildlife areas.
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