Fishing News
Sport hatchery coho fishery closes Thursday
By Joel Gallob
The fishing season for the fin-clipped hatchery-born Oregon coast coho salmon will close at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
That ending will shorten a season that began with the July 4th weekend and was originally scheduled to go through Aug. 4 - or until the maximum of 22,500 coho are caught.
The season got off to a rapid start, with excellent weather on the July 4th weekend and a strong surge of fishermen hitting the water. According to a statement released by the Newport office of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), by the end of the day July 28, the landed coho catch had come to 19,302, or 86 percent of the 22,500 quota.
"By Thursday night, we calculated, we would be at the quota or a little below," said Mike Burner, ODFW biologist with the ocean salmon program. "The ocean and weather conditions were less than ideal for much of the season, but catch rates were good."
Representatives of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Pacific Fishery Management Council, the states of Oregon and Washington, and ocean sport salmon fishermen met in a conference call on Monday. They decided to close the fishery in the waters between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mountain (Cape Falcon defines the southern end of the Columbia River fishery region, and Humbug Mountain defines the northern edge of the Klamath River fishery zone on the Oregon-California border).
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