Commercial season announced

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, June 30, 2004

The Columbia River Compact agencies of Oregon and Washington announced Tuesday the commercial fishing seasons:

Non-Indian commercial fishing periods will take place Wednesday, June 30, 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. (12 hours), and Friday, July 2, 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. (12 hours), from the mouth of the Columbia River upstream to the Longview Bridge. Sanctuaries will be in effect at Grays River, Big Creek, Gnat Creek and Elokomin.

Allowed gear will be a single wall floater gill net with a 4-1/2-inch maximum mesh size and a net length not to exceed 175 fathoms. All sockeye, all adipose fin-clipped chinook and coho, and all shad and sturgeon may be retained and sold. Any non-adipose fin-clipped chinook and coho, and any steelhead must be released immediately.

The Treaty Indian commercial salmon fishery will take place from 6 a.m. Wednesday, June 30, to 6 p.m. Friday, July 2 (60 hours) in all of Zone 6. All standard sanctuaries will be in effect, with the exception that there will be no Spring Creek sanctuary.

There is no mesh size restriction for this fishery. All sockeye, chinook, steelhead, coho, shad, walleye and carp may be retained and sold. Sturgeon may not be sold, but sturgeon between 4 and 5 feet in length in The Dalles and John Day pools may be kept for subsistence use, and sturgeon 45-60 inches in length in the Bonneville pool also may be kept for subsistence use.

Oregon and Washington also approved a non-Indian sport fishery for sockeye in the mainstem Columbia River from June 30 through September 30, 2004, from the Tongue Point Rocky Point line upstream to the Highway 395 bridge at Pasco, Wash.

A teleconference compact hearing set for today at 3 p.m. will review the recreational fishery downstream from the Wauna powerlines.

The Compact’s July meeting is set for 10 a.m. Thursday, July 29, at the Cowlitz County PUD, 961 12th Ave., Longview, Wash. The meeting will be to review salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon stock status, and consider non-Indian commercial fishing seasons in the mainstem Columbia River and select areas.

An August hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, August 20, at the Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Enforcement Office located at 4270 Westcliff Dr., Hood River, Ore., to review salmon, steelhead and sturgeon stock status, and consider treaty Indian and non-Indian commercial fishing seasons in the Columbia River.

Recorded sport fishery updates and action notices can be accessed by calling 503-657-2000, Ext. 392.Recorded commercial fishery updates and action notices can be accessed by calling 503-657-2000, Ext. 391.

Joint staff reports, fact sheets, and Columbia River action notices are available at http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ODFWhtml/InfoCntrFish/InterFish/Index.html.

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