Ocean anglers get
long salmon season
In Brookings, Gold
Beach area it runs May 1 through Sept. 9
"The
liberal seasons are possible because
more than 1.6 million chinook are
estimated to be headed toward Northern
California's Klamath River, the highest
number in more than 30 years."
Southern Oregon's ocean
anglers will get more than a full summer of
chinook salmon fishing after The Pacific Fishery
Management Council set the most liberal salmon
season seen off the south coast in three
decades.
The council this week adopted a
season for anglers fishing out of Gold Beach and
Brookings that will open May 1 and run through Sept. 9.
The season includes a two-fish
daily limit per person and incorporates the three summer
holiday weekends: Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day.
The summer salmon season also
includes an opportunity to catch and keep fin-clipped
hatchery coho off virtually the entire Oregon Coast from
July 1-31, or until 8,000 coho are caught.
The recreational troll fleet,
which has been hurt in recent years by poor seasons and
last year's tsunami, also will see its best opportunity
in several years.
The commercial troll season south
of Humbug Mountain near Port Orford will run June 1
through Aug. 29, and Sept. 5-30, with individual monthly
quotas of 1,000 to 2,000 fish.
Meeting in Seattle, the PFMC
passed the seasons after a weeklong series of meetings
that concluded Friday.
The liberal seasons are possible
because more than 1.6 million chinook are estimated to
be headed toward Northern California's Klamath River,
the highest number in more than 30 years.
Southern Oregon and part of
Northern California make up the PFMC's Klamath
Management Zone, where ocean fishing seasons are set
largely to ensure that 36,000 chinook escape sport and
commercial fisheries to spawn in the Klamath basin
annually.
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at
541-776-4470 or
mfreeman@mailtribune.com. |
