VANCOUVER, Wash. — Coastal anglers might see more chinook this year, but that won’t translate into a higher catch quota.
In fact, anglers can expect just the opposite.
Three ocean salmon-fishing options approved Wednesday by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) established a lower harvest range for chinook to protect weak salmon stocks — particularly those returning to the lower Columbia River.
The PFMC establishes fishing seasons in ocean waters three to 200 miles off the Pacific coast.
Despite an expected increase in chinook abundance, the federal panel approved tighter restrictions to protect wild salmon stocks and meet conservation goals, said Phil Anderson, director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“Our first priority is to meet crucial conservation objectives for wild salmon,” Anderson said in a news release.
“The ocean options approved [Wednesday] are designed to meet or exceed those goals.”
Early June start
Anderson said two of the options include recreational selective fisheries for hatchery chinook that would begin in early June.
If implemented, selective fisheries for hatchery chinook would open ahead of the traditional recreational fishing season for the second straight year.
About 760,000 fall chinook are expected to return to the Columbia River this year, nearly 108,000 more chinook than last year’s forecast.
A significant portion of that run — about 250,000 fish — is expected to be lower river hatchery chinook, traditionally a large part of the recreational ocean chinook fishery.
For coho salmon, the ocean quota could be similar to or slightly lower than last year’s harvest guideline, said Anderson.
This year’s forecast of 362,500 Columbia River coho, which account for a significant portion of the ocean catch, is similar to the 2010 projection.
The PFMC is expected to approve final harvest guidelines for this year’s recreational ocean fishery in mid-April.
The three options announced Wednesday establish parameters for state and tribal fishery managers in designing this year’s fishing seasons.
The recreational fishing options are:
■ Option 1 — 52,000 chinook and 79,800 coho.
■ Option 2 — 42,000 chinook and 67,200 coho.
■ Option 3 — 32,000 chinook and 54,600 coho.
“Our goal is to provide a full season of fishing for chinook and coho,” Anderson said.
“But to accomplish that we will likely need to use management tools such as restricting the number of days open each week and adjusting daily bag limits.”
The PFMC last year adopted recreational ocean fishing quotas of 61,000 chinook and 67,200 coho salmon.
Under each option for this year, recreational fisheries in Area 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay) would vary:
■ Option 1 — The recreational salmon fishing season would begin June 4 with a mark-selective fishery for hatchery chinook in Area 3 and 4.
The recreational salmon season would continue June 26 in all coastal areas for chinook and hatchery coho.
Anglers would have a daily limit of two salmon. In Area 3 and 4, anglers would also be allowed to retain two additional pink salmon.
■ Option 2 — The recreational salmon fishing season would begin June 11 with a mark-selective fishery for hatchery chinook in all ocean areas.
The fishery would run seven days a week, with a daily limit of two salmon, through June 30 in Area 3 and 4 or until 12,000 hatchery chinook are retained.
The recreational salmon season would open for chinook and hatchery coho July 1 in Area 3 and 4. Anglers fishing those marine areas would be allowed to retain one chinook as part of a two-salmon daily limit.
Anglers also would be allowed one additional pink salmon each day in Area 3 and 4.
■ Option 3 — Recreational salmon fisheries would begin with mark-selective fisheries for hatchery chinook and hatchery coho.
Those fisheries would get under way June 24 in marine Area 3 and 4. Wild chinook retention would be allowed beginning in late July.
More details on these ocean options, including proposed fishing days per week, are available on PFMC’s website at www.pcouncil.org.
More information about the salmon-season setting process, as well as a schedule of public meetings and salmon run-size forecasts, can be found on Fish and Wildlife’s North of Falcon website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/northfalcon/.
