Summer Factsheet 2 & Compact Action
June 24th, 2010
The Columbia River Compact convened by teleconference on Thursday, June 24 at 3:00 p.m. to consider ongoing non-Indian summer fisheries, and treaty Indian summer Commercial fisheries. Two 10-hour openers for upriver summer Chinook have already taken place on the lower river in the non-Indian commercial fishery, on the evenings of Thursday, June 17-Friday, June 18 and Tuesday, June 20-Wednesday, June 21. During those fisheries, a total of 4,786 summer Chinook and 256 white sturgeon were landed. The non-Indian commercial quota for upriver summer Chinook, based on the pre-season forecast of 88,000 at the rivers mouth, was 5,450 fish, leaving only 664 on the table. Considering the high catches and participation rate in the first two openers of the season, the Joint Staff did not recommend another commercial fishing period at this time. Fish passage for summer Chinook at Bonneville dam is typically 50% complete by June 30, after which passage over the dam begins to drop rapidly. The soonest the Joint Management Staff foresees an opportunity for additional commercial fishing time is after the 4th of July.
The big news of the summer season is the phenomenal numbers of sockeye (blueback ) returning this year. The preseason forecast was for 125,000 at the river’s mouth. Fish passage of sockeye over Bonneville dam is already over 164,000 as of June 23. Fish passage for sockeye is typically 50% complete by June 25. TAC has upgraded the sockeye run to 250,000, which means the Wenatchee River will reach escapement after all. The Joint Management Staff recommended that sockeye retention be allowed in the sport fishery as of Saturday, June 26. Much of the discussion during the Compact centered on the frustration of non-Indian commercial fishers that with a quarter million sockeye headed upriver, they haven’t even been allowed to retain sockeye in their big mesh fisheries for summer Chinook, much less have a sockeye directed fishery.
Summer Fact Sheet No. 2 on non-Indian fisheries and No. 2A on Treaty Indian fisheries are appended as PDF files. The subsequent Compact Action Notice for Treaty Indian fisheries and the non-Indian recreational fishery also is appended.
Compact Action Notice, 06-24-2010
