Ocean Salmon Anglers, Get Ready: Catch Quotas Are Cut to Boost Columbia River Coho Runs

By Chester Allen, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Apr. 11–SEATAC — Washington’s ocean salmon anglers will have a short, but early, season this year.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is meeting in SeaTac this week, slashed catch quotas Thursday evening to protect struggling Columbia River coho runs. But Washington anglers and charter boat skippers are far better off than those in Oregon and California, where commercial and sport fishing for chinook salmon will be closed this year.

A crash in chinook salmon populations for the Sacramento River forced the Pacific Fishery Management Council to shut down the chinook fisheries off California.

Washington ocean anglers will have one of three quotas this year:

–22,500 chinook and 21,000 coho

–17,500 chinook and 21,000 coho

–12,500 chinook and 12,600 coho

The council will choose from among those options and might reach a decision today. The state’s ocean anglers had a quota of 16,250 chinook and 117,600 coho last year.

Washington anglers probably will hit the water in early June for a 30-day chinook season with a one-fish limit, said Dennis Moss of Angler Charters in Westport.

“It may be difficult to entice people to go on a charter with a one-fish limit, but one chinook salmon can be a lot of fish,” Moss said. “I know we’re not going to get rich this year.”

Anglers might get a short season in July in which they can keep one chinook and one hatchery coho, said Larry Giese of Westport-based Deep Sea Charters.

Moss said some very big chinook swim off of Westport in June, so anglers might find good fishing during their short season.

Skippers may run combination trips for salmon and rockfish to fill out a day on the water. It also looks like albacore tuna fishing, a trip that grows in popularity each year, will be good this year.

“The salmon numbers are low, but we’re going to make the best out of a bad situation,” Giese said.

—–

To see more of The Olympian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.theolympian.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.