Washington and Oregon officials informed that commercial fishing for spring salmon will not begin before Tuesday. State biologists recommended a 10-hour tangle-net period from 2 p.m. Wednesday until midnight downstream of Kelley Point, but commercial fishermen asked for a delay until next week. Bruce Crookshanks, a Rochester, Wash., commercial fisherman, said that the lower Columbia is rising and not conducive to a good commercial catch.
Biologist Robin Ehlke of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife estimated the net fleet would have caught about 1,000 to 1,200 chinook had they fished. In that catch would have been about 360 chinook headed for upstream of Bonneville Dam. The commercial allocation is 1,900 upper Columbia chinook until the run forecast is updated in May.
Ehlke said she believes the commercials can fish next week without exceeding
their 1,900 upper Columbia-chinook allocation. She also said that more salmon enter the river, especially more upper Columbia fish, not exceeding the catch guideline gets more difficult starting the final week of March. Gary Soderstrom, an Oregon commercial fisherman, said the high flows eliminate the tidal influence, which helps fishing.
