Directed Off-Channel Commercial Salmon Fisheries in the Lower Columbia River: Evaluating the Potential for Expansion, Part 1 (Time and Area)

Since the 1990s the Select Area Fisheries management tool has been successful in providing off-channel commercial fishing opportunities in areas where fishers are less likely to intercept threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead runs (Oncorhynchus spp.). From 2011 to 2014 sampling was conducted to examine the feasibility of expanding the boundaries of two current Select Areas under certain allowable impacts for Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha). Fishers in all areas combined made a total of 421 drifts over the past two winter/spring seasons intercepting 490 Chinook salmon, and 357 drifts over the past three fall seasons intercepting 578 Chinook salmon and 610 coho salmon (O. kisutch). Average annual catch rates by area for spring Chinook salmon range between 0.3 and 3.2 fish per drift. Average annual fall catch rates (Chinook and coho salmon combined) by area range between 0.7 and 6.6 fish per drift. Preliminary evaluations suggest that although spring catch rates are highest in the Lower Prairie Channel section, it also contains the highest proportion of upriver (non-local) Chinook stocks; therefore, it may not be feasible to include certain sections of Prairie Channel in an expansion of the Blind Slough Select Area during the spring fishery season.