2010 Fall Chinook & North of Falcon
February 19th, 2010
The pre-season forecasts for Columbia River fall Chinook were released by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife on Friday, February 19, 2010, with modest improvements in run-sizes predicted. The forecasts will be part of the annual North of Falcon negotiations, which set seasons and establish quotas for ocean and in-river sport and commercial fisheries. Final recommendations from the North of Falcon process are forwarded to the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) for final determination of the shape of fisheries north of Cape Falcon on the Oregon Coast near the Clatsop-Tillamook County line. Cape Falcon is defined as the southern boundary for Washington ocean fisheries, just as Leadbetter Point at the north end of the Long Beach Peninsula is considered the northern boundary for Oregon ocean fisheries.
In-river fisheries on the Columbia River during the early fall and late fall time periods are included in the North of Falcon process, and are set under management by the PFMC. North of Falcon is grassroots democracy at work. It is often frustrating, and can be messy, but it is a process by which all stakeholders have an opportunity to share in harvest opportunities, as well as to spread the pain of managment constraints due to ESA listings and stock abundance concerns.
Ocean fisheries along the coasts of Oregon and California are expected to be minimal at best again this year due to the continuing crisis created by the collapse of the Sacramento River fall chinook run. The one bright spot in the otherwise bleak picture for Oregon and California offshore fisheries is the historic agreement signed yesterday at the state capitol in Salem, Oregon to remove the antiquated hydropower dams on the Klamath River. Coverage in the Eureka, California Times-Standard can accessed through the folowing link: http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_14432469?source=rss.
The 2010 fall Chinook forecast and the North of Falcon schedule are posted below as PDF files:
2010 Columbia River Fall Chinook Forecast
2010 North of Falcon Public Meeting Schedule
