Federal and state authorities have set limits through Sept. 30 for the commercial troll harvest of two salmon species in Oregon’s commercial salmon troll fishery between the U.S.-Canadian border and Cape Falcon, Ore.
The announcement this past week from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said harvesters would be limited to weekly landing and possession per vessel of seven Chinooks and 100 adipose marked coho salmon.
The announcement comes in the wake of NOAA Fisheries consulting with the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the states of Oregon and Washington, and fishery representatives in a conference call.
Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife said the harvest of Chinooks to date in that area had passed 90% of the 13,000 Chinook quota, leaving only 1,251 fish to be harvested. The summer period also has a quota of 30,400 market coho with an estimated harvest of only 2,772 coho through the past week, leaving 90% of that quota still to be harvested.
Fisheries officials said that action would refocus the fishery to target hatchery coho, while allowing minimal Chinook salmon to be retained. Additional action is planned as needed in future weeks.
Additional regulations that apply to vessels fishing out of Oregon north of Cape Falcon for the 2023 season include vessels landing in Oregon being limited to only fishing between Leadbetter Point, Wash. and Cape Falcon, Ore.
Vessels landing into Oregon are also limited on the Oregon side to locations of the Columbia River upstream as far as Tongue Point, the beaches at Gearhart/Seaside and Cannon Beach or into Garibaldi.
Vessels landing salmon in Oregon from any season North of Cape Falcon are required to notify ODFW within one hour of delivery or prior to transport away from the port of landing by either calling (541) 857-2546 or sending notification via e-mail to trollreport@odfw.oregon.gov.
Notification must include vessel name and number, number of salmon by species, port of landing and location of delivery, and estimated time of delivery.