Ocean Salmon 2004

[Chilly one]

It's about time for the NMFS/ODFW collaborated meetings for the upcoming salmon ocean seasons. Has anyone heard of the schedule and whereabouts of those? Normally there is one in Newport for going over catch numbers, escapements etc for the troll fleet and the sport fellas. I'm a bit concerned as I've heard wild coho jack numbers were off a bit, which could shape our season. I also heard rumors of the first two fish caught regardless of species (Coho 16", Chinook 20") go home with you, regardless if clipped or not? Anyone have a feel or heard anything on that note?
last year didn't we open April15 below Falcon? Same this year? I heard April 1 or March perhaps? Help!
Thanks.
"Happiness is a Bent Rod!" :smile:

Chillyone w/Beer

[Popeye]

GARY!!!.....Go mix another one, back away from the puter, go get some sleep, everything will be more clear in the morning :grin:

[Chilly one]

:grin: Popeye the Sailor Man!
Happy New Year to you and Julie! Glad u are going South for Sun and Fun! nice time of the year to enjoy that area! Please send sun on your Tropical ventures in Mexico and Hawaii!
Hope the weather cooperates for you on your "Journey" dude!
Have fun and catch an Exotic fish or two for me!
Hello to Julie from our home here.
Regards, Chillyone

"Happiness is a Bent Rod!"

[Born to be Wild]

I also heard rumors of the first two fish caught regardless of species (Coho 16", Chinook 20") go home with you, regardless if clipped or not?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">Not in the works.
Chinook as always, yes.
Coho, absolutely not.
I received an email from a charter a few months back that was spreading that same rumor and well, you know how that works.

Remember that those wild coho you are talking about, the OCN's are still technically listed on the Federal ESA as "threatened" and the lower Columbia River wild coho could head for the ESA as "endangered".

We intercept both wild coho stocks (OCN and LCWC) in the ocean fishery.

In all probability the OCN's will get de-listed sometime this summer after the joint study between NOAA and ODFW is complete as they are in no way threatened anymore with two consecutive returns (2002 & 2003) of 50 year highs.

The quota (Falcon to Humbug) will probably be in the ball park of 60,000 but the rumors I heard could be as low as 40,000 or as high as 70,000.
This is because the hatchery stocks did not perform well and there was only 30,000 jacks this last fall (2003) as compared to 50,100 jacks the year before (2002).
We will not be seeing another 88,000 quota this year.

The meeting you inquired about in South Beach (Newport ODFW) is on March 4th at the Hallmark Resort from 10:00am to 4:00pm.
Last year it was at the ODFW facility but it was rather crowded and that may be the reason to use the Hallmark facility.

A couple years ago I attended the meeting perhaps at the Hallmark Resort and it was a nice place to hold the meeting with lots of extra room.

Dano

[Chilly one]

Born to Be Wild! Thanks cacahoe Dan! That meeting used to be if I remember in Jan. and then Feb. and now March. Good, it gives them more time for "data compilation", if you know what I mean. Many times in the past questions were not able to be answered as the data collection wasn't totaled and so on. More time, more numbers for the data bank! Thus, real numbers to base the Options on.
Hope things are going well for u in the Evergreen state Dan-o.
Regards from 'd Beach 'ol buddy......

"Happiness is a Bent Rod!"

Chilly one