Pacific Fishery Management Council considers closing ocean salmon seasons due to projected poor coho returns

Poor forecasts for returning coho salmon are prompting state and tribal fishery managers to consider closing all salmon fisheries in Washington’s ocean waters this year as part of a federal season-setting process for the West Coast. State, tribal and federal fishery managers have developed three options for non-treaty ocean salmon fisheries that reflect the anticipated low coho returns. Two options would permit some salmon fishing this year, but one would close recreational and commercial ocean fisheries for. Those alternatives were approved Sunday for public review by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), which establishes fishing seasons in ocean waters three to 200 miles off the Pacific coast. A public hearing on the three alternatives for ocean salmon fisheries is scheduled for March 28 in Westport. Read the rest here 14:17

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.