Columbia Compact: 4/14 Closure notice

[Pete]

LuredIn got the early signs and they almost correct. The Compact chose a partial closure effective the 22nd, not the 14th.

Columbia River Fishery Notice
Joint State Action

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife April 14, 2004

The Columbia River Compact agencies of Oregon and Washington met today via phone to review salmon stock status and the ongoing recreational fishery and took the following actions:

Mainstem Columbia River Spring Chinook Sport Fishery

· Effective 12:01 AM Thursday April 22 - May 15 (or until guideline is reached) the mainstem Columbia River from I-5 Bridge upstream to Bonneville Dam will be closed 3 days per week (Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays) to angling for salmon, steelhead, and shad.

· No modifications were adopted for fisheries downstream of the I-5 Bridge.

· No modifications were adopted for fisheries upstream of Bonneville Dam.

· Other gear and bag limit restrictions remain as per permanent regulations.

FUTURE MEETINGS

· The next Joint State Sport hearing to update spring chinook stock status, review ongoing spring chinook sport fishery, and consider modifications to the ongoing sport fishery will occur via telephone at 1 PM Wednesday April 21.

[The Overfishin Condition]

Ugh, this is bad news, but it could be worse, could be a complete closure above I5 like we've seen in past years, and three day closures below. At least we can work with this.

[Pete]

From the Joint Staff Report:

Fishing was generally slow during February and March with catch rates of one fish per 12 boat anglers. Catch rates increased after April 1. Overall catch rates have been excellent with a total April catch rate of 0.26 fish per boat angler.

Impacts to upriver spring chinook in the mainstem sport fishery below Bonneville Dam totaled 0.301% through April 11, 2004. This represents 25% of the total sport fishery impact (1.2%), and 37.6% of the portion of the impact (0.8%) that is reserved for the mainstem sport fishery below Bonneville Dam. The impact for the fishery between the I-5 Bridge and Bonneville Dam has been 0.114% through April 11, which is about 45% of the total impact for April.

The projected sport catch under current regulations for the period of April 12-18 is 11,000 fish, with a total upriver handle of about 8,900, 4,000 of which would be above the I-5
Bridge. This catch would increase the total impact to 0.54%. This would take the mainstem fishery below Bonneville Dam to 67.5% of the allocated 0.8% impact for this fishery.

JOINT STAFF REPORT WINTER FACT SHEET NO. 15

[Steelie Steve]

Pete - According to the fact sheet, the recommendation was to start the 3-day a week closures this friday (04.16.04). Your summary above says it is effective next Thursday. Is that true? I sure hope so.

Thanks for being involved in this for us. Better news than total closures at least.

Steve

[zueth]

I was wondering the same thing Steelie!

[Pete]

The Fact Sheet is produced by staff and submitted to the Columbia River Compact for guidance. The Action Notice is the rule that is adopted. The closure is effective on the 22nd.

[husker]

how can this be effective on the 22nd?...i read the 16th @ 12:01 a.m....wouldnt friday be closed on the 16th? where does it say anything about the 22nd?

[Pete]

The notice at the top of this thread is the new regulation. It says, "Effective 12:01 AM Thursday April 22". The other date is from the staff report which is not the regulation, merely advisory to the Compact which is who makes the decision.

[husker]

i was reading the joint fact sheet....my bad....go get them fish

[north coast kook]

Hey Pete, maybe these weekly reports you give us could be pinned at the top so they wont get burried? That way everyone can see it right away, and maybe keep the rumors to a min. Just a thought, thanks for all the work you do to keep us all informed!
-KooK

[jb]

Thanks Pete! I was up by the dam today. It is a great fishery and I am glad to hear that we will still be able to fish it. Was able to watch David Johnson put on a clinic back bouncing eggs by the deadline this afternoon. Quite impressive. I ended up with one hatchery fish. The Amerman eggs came through for the rookie. tight lines, jb

[Lured In]

Pete...my apologies for making things confusing. I tried to be clear that the CRC had yet to adopt the recommendation and the formal annoucemnet would be forthcoming.

Needless to say, we managed a little impacting of our own up 'that a way' this afternoon.

I was glad to see they pushed it out till next week. It would have been tough to get the word out before this Friday.

[Dr Strangelove]

"Overall catch rates have been excellent with a total April catch rate of 0.26 fish per boat angler"

That's one salmon per day for every four fisherman. This is excellent? Tell that to the other three guys. Or one guy with a limit and his fishless seven buddies. This is not excellent. This is a joke.

Ban the damn gillnets and allow seal harpooning with crossbows and nightscopes.

It never ceases to amaze me that a species on the endangered list is a common meal choice in restaurants and markets.

My five springer trips have resulted in one nate, one cracker, and a keeper yesterday. I guess that puts me ahead of the crowd. So why don't I feel better?

[cheeseburger]

I agree with you strangelove. It is a joke, every time the fishing starts to get good they close down the Columbia and let the seals have all the fish. Hey the seals are on the list too, why can we eat them too?? I bet you that within a few weeks they will close it down completely. Better get out there and fish while you can. Only thing that sucks is i fish the willy in OC and after they close the CR it will be a zoo there for only a few fish.

[Seefood Man]

Even though I'm able to fish seven days a week this remains difficult for the "working man" with a mon -fri job. Also, let's throw in the fact that this person wants to bring his family to church on Sunday , well I personally think a mon, tues and weds closure would be better for all. Of course there are those that are off those days too . How about a punch card for fishing days? It would be just like a regular punch card and you would have to mark the day on the card prior to going out. You would only get to mark four days in that week but it wouldn't matter what days was fished just as long as you didn't exceed the four. I know it would be better for enforcement to just close the whole thing down but at least the general public would feel like the have more options. What do you think of this?

[SKP]

Now that's a great idea, a punch card for the days you fish, so you don't exceed four days in a week.

Better than that, Tillamook County in the fall, you can't exceed 4 fish in any 7 consecutive days and no more than 2 per day. Make it you can't exceed 8 hathery fish in any 7 consecutive days and no more than 2 per day. If fishing is good, you'll have to stop for three days, to get out of the penalty box.

It will work like that.

SKP

[steelheader667]

Well I have to agree withthe most of you. I am no longer availible to fish for springers because the closer falls on my ddays off. So now I want to know if they are going to give my license money back. I get tired of this every year that when the fishing starts to pick up that there is some kind of an impact to the sport fisherman. I don't think that there numbers are as acurate as they think. It has not been that good of a fishery say below Beacon Rock. I have been able to put a few fish in the boat but now I am done unless they change the season. I bet when they re-evaluate the numbers that the comercial guys get a lot more fishing. I guess they think that is who needs the fish so why not let them have more....Good luck to all that can keep fishing during the closure.

[Riverliver]

Pete,
Thank you Pete for all the information!

[judyfish99]

OOOwwww! Pete, thanks for the update, I heard about the meeting just last week. Thank God I booked a trip with a guide last February for April 20th. I bet the Guides are upset with this. :depressed: If more Sportsmen showed up at these meetings in numbers, maybe these regs wouldn't happen? I bet this really tweeks the beaks on Fishing Guides. What are they going to tell people who booked trips in advance on the days of closure? It sure makes guiding a tough living. I really feel for them. This financially impacts a lot of businesses,too. judyfish99

[Pete]

I'm not sure if attending more meetings would change a partial closure like this. But remember, this is to protect ESA listed stocks, the fish that are critical to species survival. Also, remember that this is a partial closure, with 10 days notice, based on a sequence of actions detailed months ago. Last year, it was a blanket closure that occurred without much warning.

[legal_layover]

Just a thought, telephone call to Washington and Oregon fish and wild life suggesting deadline other than I-5 bridge for partial closure. The most damage is being done below the dam but fishing along Government Island, accross from the airport is still a challange. Suggesting deadline at Rooster Rock or somewhere upstream from I-5 would slow down the catch rate but still leave open a larger stretch of fishable river.

[Pete]

The reason the deadline is at I-5 is because the wild fish heading up the Columbia are the ones they are trying to protect. There are certainly some options that would reduce impact ... the "days a week" closure is intended to reduce the overall catch rate. That could be accomplished by having a Tillamook style 10 fish limit and/or a 2 a day, 4 or 6 a week type limit, too, but those are more difficult and thus more expensive to enforce. Now is the time to propose ideas for alternative methods of achieving the goal of reducing impact on ESA listed fish. I encourage anyone with ideas to get them in the hopper now by writing to ODFW and WDFW. The planning process for next year is only 6 months away!

[crabbait]

A couple of things: While I am certain that the guides do not much care for the closure, I am sure they appreciate the ten day opportunity to shuffle clients and make changes to plans. Much better for business than a sudden and complete closure.

Of the 14 salmon we boated (two days, three fishermen) only two were high finned. Went six in a row yesterday with no wild fish (not counting the oversized sturgeon). I was very surprized at the ratio of hatchery to wild fish being caught (at least by us).

[Negotiator]

It is too bad that those of us who have an issue with fishing on Sunday are shut out of the weekend season. In addition those who can only go on the days that are closed. My idea is to close it every other day and to make it simple just say you can only fish on odd number days (This gets us an extra day now and then). At least this way everyone gets a chance every other week. It is tough to take these closures, but as we know it is nothing new or surprising, but it still feels just as bad every time. As anyone checked into the rumor that this particular closure was initiated by angry spouses wanting yard work done during at least half the weekend????

[Pete]

The preseason 2004 spring chinook forecast for Columbia river fish was 360,700 adult upriver spring chinook to the
Columbia River which was projected to include 339,200 4-year olds and 21,500 5-year olds. This would be the second largest return on record since 1938. Of that 360,700, The Snake River wild spring/summer chinook run was forecast to total 46,200 adults. That's the stock that we are permitted a 1.2% impact on which drives the closures. Based on those numbers, you'd expect fewer than 12% of fish caught to be wild fish. Remember, there's a presumed 10% mortality for released wild fish.

[Haftafish]

Actually it would be nice to have a seperate board on this site for all the regulation changes we face with respect to all sportsmen activities. Seems every day a new change is in effect and if you don't stay right on top of it, your going to risk a citation. Thank goodness for a site like this that at least you can dig up information. And thanks to the folks that post it.

[dawhunt]

You know whats sad about the whole thing is there just as apt to shut the upper river down compelety after this small closure and guess who gets the excess fish we couldn't catch :whazzup:,because if we don't get our allotment there afraid the indians will say we don't need that big of an allotment and force them to cut it.SOOO who comes to our rescue the GILLNETTERS !!!,they'll get to catch our share of the allotment we couldn't catch because they took us of the river !!! funny how that works isn't it.
somehow this doesn't seem right to me.
Bob

[ssteelheadsteve]

HEY PETE Too bad everyone forgot about the real harvesters and their huge impact.The Dams are still far and away the biggest killers of Salmon on the Columbia. The Dams continue to harvest over 80% of the "harvestable surplus".
dams

[SalmonSeason]

Haftafish,
You can also check w/ ODFW's site and/or call them directly
via the Portland Office...
It's a pain, but at least you'll know from the horses mouth rather than trust someone who does not work for them...not saying anything bad about Pete...Who does a GREAT Job!!

Just saying...that's how you get the info...OSP Game Troops also can provide info

[Chromaflage]

Sheesh! There will be a lot of sick days used up after the 22nd (cough, cough).