Idaho to Have Salmon Season for the 3 Fish Returning

[JoseCuervo]

Idaho salmon fishing season to begin, fish or not


LEWISTON, Idaho - The opening of salmon fishing in the Snake, Clearwater, Little Salmon and Salmon rivers will occur Saturday, despite only a handful of chinook in those rivers.

Through Tuesday, just three chinook were counted at Lower Granite Dam, 35 miles west of Lewiston. At Ice Harbor Dam, 43 chinook have been counted. Downriver at Bonneville Dam, 2,052 chinook have climbed the fish ladders on their way upriver. The 10-year average at Bonneville is more than 55,000 for this time of year.

Officials in Washington and Oregon have closed salmon fishing in the Columbia River and are waiting for the run to improve before allowing anglers back on the water.

In Idaho, fisheries officials are waiting for more fish to cross Bonneville Dam to determine if there will be enough to keep their seasons open. They want to know if the run is dismally low, extremely late or a combination of the two.

"If the low counts are a function of abundance and not related to timing, this run is a bust," said Ed Schriever, regional fish manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston.

Pacific Northwest sportfishing and tribal fishing leaders say the scarcity of spring chinook in the Columbia Basin after projections of a strong return will be a devastating blow to the businesses and families who depend on the run for their livelihoods.

If the run is merely running late - about three weeks late - the season could be held as planned.

If the entire run turns out to be much smaller than expected, the number of wild fish that can be caught and released by anglers will shrink, potentially so much that seasons won't be held in the Snake and Salmon rivers, where wild chinook are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Even if those seasons were to close, Schriever said it may be possible to have fishing seasons on the Clearwater and Little Salmon Rivers, where wild chinook are not protected.

 

[Tom]

Boy, the count is down every where over there, it seems like. Is anyplace normal this year over there?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Tom,
The counts have been abnormal since the dams were built. Until the dams are breached, the count will be down, now we just have to decide on HOW down we want the counts to be. 3 fish is a bit too far down...

 

[WH's OutdoorsChick]

Tom,
The counts have been abnormal since the dams were built. Until the dams are breached, the count will be down, now we just have to decide on HOW down we want the counts to be. 3 fish is a bit too far down...

HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!!! Again We agree

Did Hell :MAD Freeze OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If we mess with Mother Nature too much there will be consequences... We have way to many dam’s here in the North West! It is just Pathetic that people don’t care enough about the well being of Nature to actually do something about it! It makes me so mad to drive around and see everything Mother Nature did over the years ruined by people. I don’t think ppl thought about the consequences 50 years or more ago when they built a lot of these dam’s, but now that they DO KNOW the consequences, they still do not care enough to Breech them!!! |oo :MAD |oo :MAD |oo

 

[Bandit]

Well I guess I make another to agree. I say he's right. With all that "progress" and dam building, it's screwing up the natural flow for the things that live there. We have a section of canal that used to be good fishing. Then they decided to "improve" the land. Now its worthless to try and fish that area.

 

[Tom]

On the Columbia river, they said they couldn't figure out why they were down. You all should go tell them, you've got it figured out now.

 

[WHT_MTNMAN]

WHO CARES ABOUT SALMON?
jk Maybe they'll transplant some down here in Lake Powell