Silver season over soon?

[Gregotis98]

I heard from someone at the ramp on Sun. that the season may close on July 17 due to quota being caught. I don't know if this is true or not but, if it is this is a shame due to the updated prediction of more than 2 million fish. Why would the quota stay at 55,000 if this many are predicted?

[Mr. Fisherman]

Good question.

Maybe one of our Ifish special guests could provide a little insite.

Anybody?

[Trick]

No expert on this but my guess would lay with the ESA listing on coho. I believe they use a formula to reach a mortality statistic on the percentage of "wild" coho that are caught and the percentage that expire upon release. Maybe someone can layout the actual numbers for us.

[bait boy]

The salmon seasons are set such that specific runs that are targeted such as the silvers out of tillamook are a smaller component. The smaller quota is for Tillamook only. my best guess is that the hatchery production in that area is not as prolific and the forecast combined with the ESA impacts set that area lower.

The area from Leadbetter point Wa. to Cape falcon is still under the 112,500 Coho and 7,750 Chinook guideline.

The 1.5 million number you keep hearing is the number of fish headed for the columbia river only. These cant be included in regional quotas because they are just passing through and the resident population will make up a greater portion of the catch.


I hope that answered your ?

[ 07-16-2001: Message edited by: Spell Checker]

[ 07-16-2001: Message edited by: bait boy ]

[finclipped]

The way I understand it and how it has been reported by WDFW and ODFW, the wild component of the run for the Oregon coast was approximated at 50,000 give or take a few. The estimate for the Columbia run is close to 1.5MM. If it has been updated, someone give me a link. The reality is that we are either catching a very high percentage of the wild fish, or the wild run is larger than anticipated (more likely) or they are not clipping the coho.

Most of the fish caught off the central Oregon coast are of Columbia river decent. The coho migrate off the coast of Northern California and Oregon for feeding and the nutritious upwelling off the Southern and Central Oregon coast. As the season progresses these fish continually migrate up the coast and eventually enter the Columbia itself. The Central Oregon coast is on one Quota (55,000). There are no sub quota's that pertain to one port.

It seems reasonable if we expect more fish, and there appears to be a healthier wild component, we should increase the quota for hatchery bred coho, so we can greater access to these "keeper" fish.