Commercial fishermen will return to the lower Columbia River on Thursday.
Washington and Oregon officials adopted the following two fishing periods on Tuesday:
o Gillnetters will fish from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday from the mouth of the Lewis River to the ocean with 6-inch-maximum mesh to target on coho.
o The netters also will fish from 7 p.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday between the mouth of the Lewis River and Beacon Rock with 8-inch-minimum and 9 3/4-inch maximum mesh to target on chinook.
The commercial fleet is projected to catch 800 chinook, 5,000 coho and fewer than 100 sturgeon. Fishermen are limited to two sturgeon per vessel.
About 8,000 coho are available for commercial harvest in the lower Columbia. The number is up from about 3,000 last week due to an increase in the run forecast and the transfer of some fish not caught in ocean fisheries.
