Twelve hours of gillnetting is scheduled beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the lower Columbia River.
Washington and Oregon agreed Tuesday on the commercial fishing period. The net fleet will fish between Beacon Rock and the ocean with 8-inch-mesh minimum nets.
Biologist Robin Ehlke of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife estimated 40 to 50 commercial fishermen will harvest no more than 600 hatchery-origin spring chinook. Sockeye and shad also can be sold.
The spring chinook are expected to average about 15 pounds and fetch a price of $5 per pound.
The commercials have an allocation of 4,397 upper Columbia-origin spring salmon to catch in the lower Columbia under state, federal and tribal management agreements. So far, they have landed 2,841 upper Columbia spring chinook.
