Tribal proposals to end impasse reported
Each week we round-up the top fishing news from the Northwest and beyond. Do you have a news tip? E-mail us at news /at/ salmonuniversity.com.
Details on tribal proposals reported
Yesterday’s Seattle Times provides a detailed report on the two proposals offered by tribal fisheries managers as a precondition to agreement with the state of Washington on Puget Sound salmon limits. According to the report, both sides have recently reopened negotiations aimed at ending the impasse that has brought recreational salmon fishing in the Puget Sound to a halt.
One tribal proposal called for a total sport fishing closure in the Puyallup and Carbon rivers; close the entire salmon season in south-central Puget Sound; close the hatchery-marked selective fishery in central Puget Sound from mid-July to mid-August; and a hatchery chinook catch quota reduction in northern Puget Sound from 3,260 to 2,500. The tribes offered to reduce their netting time on the Puyallup to just six hours of fishing, which is similar to recent years.
A second package called for the same freshwater and marine area closures with some slightly lower quotas for the few remaining sport openings in central Puget Sound. The Makah tribal winter troll fishery off the western edge of the Strait of Juan de Fuca would be held to 4,500 chinook, which is still about double the average catch of the last 10 years.
Salmon fishing expanded in some areas
The sportfishing season for spring chinook salmon on the Columbia River will reopen for three days beginning later this week under an agreement reached yesterday by fishery managers from Washington and Oregon.
Anglers can fish Friday, May 13, through Sunday, May 15, from the Tongue Point/Rocky Point line upriver to the Washington/Oregon border. Boat anglers, however, aren’t allowed to fish between Beacon Rock and Bonneville Dam.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Drano Lake anglers may now retain up to four adult spring chinook salmon. According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the decision was made due to a surplus of hatchery fish. In addition, the limit on chinook in sections of the Snake River has been increased to two. For details, check the WDFW website.
Drone-aided angling captures tuna from shoreline
A fisherman in Australia used a drone to reel-in a 44-pound tuna from the beach, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports. A video uploaded by Jaiden Maclean last week to YouTube has been viewed more than one million times. In it, Maclean pilots a drone equipped with a camera and squid bait attached to fishing line that trails back to the beach.
