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States opt against chinook extension at Buoy 10

By Al Thomas, Columbian Outdoors Reporter
Published: August 31, 2010, 12:00am

Chinook salmon retention in the popular Buoy 10 sport fishery at the mouth of the Columbia River will close — as scheduled — beginning Wednesday.

Washington and Oregon agreed Monday not to extend chinook retention despite a projection that only 55 percent of the catch guideline will have been landed through Tuesday.

Buoy 10 is the name given to the lower 16 miles of the Columbia River from Buoy No. 10 at the ocean upstream to Tongue Point in Oregon and Rocky Point in Washington. It remains open daily for hatchery-origin coho and hatchery steelhead.

Anglers at Buoy 10 were allocated 12,500 chinook for Aug.1-31. They will have taken about 7,000 chinook through Tuesday, said John North of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The problem is Buoy 10 is allocated 2,900 chinook destined for lower Columbia tributaries and about 3,500 will have been harvested, he said.

The catch of chinook headed for big Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery at Underwood in eastern Skamania County is lagging, North said. Those Spring Creek fish normally are big contributors at Buoy 10.

Guy Norman, regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said he hoped to extend chinook retention through Labor Day, but the overage on lower Columbia fish makes that not possible.

Chinook fishing is open through Sept. 11 from Tongue Point-Rocky Point upstream to the mouth of the Lewis River and through Dec. 31 upstream of the Lewis.

Additional chinook catch at Buoy 10 puts those upstream fisheries at risk, Norman said.

The coho catch at Buoy 10 through Tuesday is about 7,200 fish. The coho allocation is 11,900 hatchery fish.

Butch Smith of the Ilwaco Charter Association agreed with the closure, saying the estuary fishery does not have the right to jeopardize upriver fishing.

“This has been the third stock of chinook this year to come in under forecast,” said Ed Wickersham of Ridgefield, representing the Coastal Conservation Association.

He called for similar caution in gillnet and tribal fisheries.

Robin Ehlke of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said the commercial catch in August is within guidelines for lower Columbia chinook.

“If you’ve been fishing at Buoy 10, you know the fishing has been pretty slow,” said Jim Bridwell, an Oregon angler.

State officials will meet at 1 p.m. Sept. 9 to review the chinook run size and sport catches.

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Columbian Outdoors Reporter