Tag Archives: salmon fishing

Frustrated fishermen get good news: good rockfishing, salmon fishing to return in 2024

With an oversized head, bulbous eyes and narrow body, the quillback rockfish looks like a golden bullfrog armed with a quiver full of arrows on its back. Few sport fishermen want to keep, much less eat, the famously sharp and ouchy and skinny quillback, which are reeled by those seeking meatier rockfish. But it was the quillback, which is often tossed back into the sea, whose population plummet caused a shutdown that impacted the entire rockfish industry, both for commercial and for party boats operating out of Mendocino Coast’s Noyo Harbor. That mysterious plunge in quillback numbers cut off all near-shore rockfish fishing last year, causing an organized outcry by fishermen and a new plan for 2024. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 07:15

COVID-19 restaurant downturn, health risks pack double blow to tribal fishers, salmon business

On the 147-mile stretch of the Columbia from Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam, the only commercial fishing allowed is by the four Columbia Plateau tribes that signed treaties with the federal government in 1855. The treaties ensure the fishing rights of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. Despite those treaties, dwindling salmon runs have forced the tribes to strike a delicate balance between their rights to the salmon, other commercial and recreational fishers, and protecting the environment. >click to read< 14:25

State of Washington v. United States: Supreme Court to tackle salmon case without Justice Kennedy

When the full Supreme Court resumes arguments in mid-April, the Court will be short by one Justice when it considers a long-running dispute about salmon fishing, Indian treaty rights, and culverts in the state of Washington. On March 19, the Clerk of the Supreme Court clerk Scott Harris told the parties in State of Washington v. United States that a routine check missed Justice Anthony Kennedy’s participation in an earlier judicial decision from 1985, when Kennedy was on the federal circuit bench, related to the current case. After learning about the situation, the court said Justice Kennedy declined to end his participation in the current case. With eight Justices on the bench for the April 18 arguments, Washington v. United States should get its fair share of attention. >click to read<

Bethel Alaska: Gillnetters anxious to fish Kuskokwim River

Patience is wearing thin for fishermen along the Kuskokwim River, where restrictions on salmon fishing have been in place for weeks. But federal managers said they are considering at least a partial opening soon for gillnetters. Read more here  09:56

Cuts likely for lower Columbia River fall chinook fishing

State, federal and tribal officials — plus all manner of commercial and sport fishing interests — are in the middle of the month-long process leading to the setting of summer and fall salmon fishing seasons and regulations. continue