ODFW NOTICE: 2003 Ocean Salmon Season Adopted

[Pete]

Commission Adopts Expanded Ocean Salmon Season for 2003

PORTLAND - The allowed catch for ocean-caught coho off the central Oregon coast will nearly quadruple this summer compared to last year due to abundant hatchery-bred coho, under rules adopted Friday by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The allowed catch for hatchery-bred coho between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mountain is 88,000 fish compared to 22,500 in 2002.

In addition, the Commission changed the sport angling rules for the ocean and the Columbia River Buoy 10 fishery to allow each angler on a boat to continue fishing until each individual on the boat has reached his or her daily catch limit. However, the rule change will not allow any individual angler to exceed the personal daily bag limit.

The practice is currently legal in Washington and common in other west coast fisheries. Allowing anglers to continue to deploy angling gear can have the effect of increasing the chances of everyone on a boat reaching the daily catch limit. Thus, it is seen as a way to increase Oregon tourism and to encourage young anglers to enter the sport.

The Commission is the rule-making body for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The seven-member panel meets monthly to establish policies and administrative regulations for the agency to implement.

The following ocean sport salmon regulations were adopted Friday for state waters inside of three miles:
· Leadbetter Point, Wash. to Cape Falcon, Ore.: The season is open June 29 - Sept. 30, or until the coho quota is reached. The catch quotas are 112,500 coho and 12,700 chinook. Angling is allowed Sunday through Thursday, although an in-season change could allow angling every day. The daily limit is two salmon, with only one being a chinook. All coho must be missing their adipose fin, identifying them as hatchery bred.
· Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain: Chinook angling is allowed March 15 to Oct. 31. The "selective" coho season is open June 21 to Aug. 24, seven days a week. The daily limit is two salmon. All coho must be adipose fin-clipped.
· Humbug Mountain to Horse Mountain: The season is open May 17 - Sept. 14. The daily catch limit is two chinook. The adopted season is the longest in more than a decade.
· Columbia River "Buoy 10" fishery: The season is open to retention of adipose fin-clipped coho and fall chinook Aug. 1 - Dec. 31. From Aug. 1 through Aug. 15, the daily bag limit is two salmon, only one of which can be a chinook. Beginning Aug. 16, the daily bag limit increases to three salmon, only one of which may be a chinook.
· Tillamook Terminal Area: Both a spring and fall season were adopted with no changes from 2002.
· Elk River Terminal Area: A late fall fishery was adopted with no changes from 2002.
· Chetco River Terminal Area: A fall fishery was adopted with no changes from 2002.

In addition, the Commission adopted commercial troll salmon seasons.

A pamphlet describing the ocean sport fishing seasons will be available at ODFW offices and some coastal license agents in May.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Contact: Anne Pressentin Young (503) 872-5264 x5356
Internet: http://www.dfw.state.or.us
Fax: (503) 872-5700

[puffins crew]

Pete,


Thanks for the update. Sounds like us sport guys get to have a bit more fun this year.

Peace, Tom

[Miss B Haven]

Ya- The silvers sounds like two years ago. Going to have to be slelective and fish some deep lines to avoid limiting out the first hour! Oh well- Shale Pile hear we come!
I don't like the nook quota for the North coast though. Same as last year means a real early shutdown. At least MAYBE they won't let the Westport Charters over catch which made them shut down the whole thing early!
Of course as soon as it shut down last year I started getting some really nice big nooks!

[Chum King]

A summary of the regulations is posted at Ocean Salmon Management

Also the Oregon Production Index hatchery coho abundance forecast for this year is 863,100. Compare that to end of season totals of 660,100 in 2002, and 1,560,100 OPI hatchery coho in 2001.

Is this year going to be a repeat of 2001? I don't think so, but it should still be some pretty good fishing and a chance to fish coho a bit later in the summer on the central coast.

[Orca]

Chum King,

Do you know what the 2001 and 2002 forecasts were? How accurate were they, and is the catch limit just some percentage of the forecast? The Central Coast numbers just don't add up for me: (Quota, OPI)

2001 55,000 - 1,560,100
2002 22,000 - 660,100
2003 88,000 - 863,100 (Forecast)

[ 04-16-2003, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: Orca ]

[Chum King]

Orca,

The quota is based on the impact rate on Oregon Coast Natural (OCN) coho as allowed under Amendment 13 to the Salmon Framework Plan (FMP)of the Pacific Fishery Management Council(PFMC). The impact rate is in a matrix table that utilizes both parent spawners and an index of marine survival to determine what is considered to be the acceptable impact rate for OCN coho in a given year. A revised version of the matrix table was proposed a few years back, but the PFMC decided to not replace the matrix that was included in Amendment 13, but to use the revised matrix in more of an advisory type of role. The revised matrix has been used for the past few years.

In 2001 the OCN impact rate adopted by PFMC was below 8%, in 2002 the impact rate was below 11%, and in 2003 the adopted impact rate is less than 15%.

As for forecasts versus actual abundance:
The OPI Public Hatchery Coho forecast for 2001 was 1,707,600 and the postseason estimate was 1,560,100. In 2002, the preseason hatchery coho forecast was 361,700 and the postseason estimate was 660,100. The OCN forecast in 2001 was 50,100 with a postseason estimate of 151,900. The OCN forecast in 2002 was 71,800 and the postseason estimate was 304,400. For 2003, the OCN forecast is for 117,900.

The impact rate that is allowed includes all fisheries. That means that changes in commercial or recreational chinook seasons in Oregon, California, Washington, and even B.C. can affect what level of impacts are available for directed recreational coho seasons. This year, the commercial troll chinook season off the Oregon Coast had additional mid-summer cutbacks for chinook over what they have had for the past couple of years, and that may have also opened up some more impacts for the sport fishery to access.

Hope that helped clear it up a bit.

[ 04-16-2003, 02:14 PM: Message edited by: Chum King ]