After two years of constant closure Oregon’s commercial fishermen will now get salmon season this year under three fishing options. The fishing from May to September will still be limited because of concerns about poor chinook returns to the Sacramento River in recent years. Sacramento fall chinook provide the bulk of Oregon’s ocean catch. And commercial fishing for coho salmon off central and southern Oregon, which return mainly to Oregon rivers, will not be allowed because of declining numbers.
Pacific Fishery Management Council has its own option for a salmon industry that relies on chinook and saw its largest closures ever in 2008 and 2009. Washington and the coast of Oregon north of Cape Falcon, near Seaside, will likely see strong commercial chinook seasons, largely because of favorable returns to the Columbia River.
Congress has allocated $170 million in disaster relief the last two years to help fishing communities in California, Oregon and Washington hurt by the losses. Federal biologists have predicted improved salmon season and the result is the opening of the season this year. The council, which has been meeting all week in Sacramento, faced criticism by California officials that its salmon predictions for the Sacramento River were too optimistic.
