Quick Action Saves Hatchery Salmon

A last-minute cooperative effort by Oregon, Washington and the federal government has saved 8.2 million salmon from being released prematurely from two Columbia River hatcheries.

Oregon, Washington and the National Marine Fisheries Service each provided $110,000 to keep the fall chinook salmon in hatcheries at Bonneville and at Big Creek, near Astoria, until their release dates in April and May.

The cash infusion was enough to block the planned early release in March. Many of the fish would not have survived.

Washington state was willing to make the unprecedented contribution to Oregon hatcheries because the fall chinook mainly go to Canadian and north Washington waters, said Jim Martin, Gov. John Kitzhaber’s salmon technical advisor.

“Their fishermen would’ve paid the pain for the loss of these fish,” he said.

Kitzhaber last month used $65,000 from a lottery-financed reserve fund to help prevent early release of other hatchery salmon.

Federal funding for the hatcheries ran out in early February, forcing the premature release of 8 million fingerlings from the Bonneville hatchery. About $3.5 million was slashed from the federal support Oregon hatcheries receive to compensate for the loss of fish when the dams were built on the Columbia River.

Caribou relocation nears reality

Although one final permit is pending from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, biologists are poised to trap and relocate 20 woodland caribou from British Columbia to northeastern Washington next week.

The $190,000 relocation mission is the latest effort to recover what Washington Fish and Wildlife Department officials call ” the country’s most endangered mammal.”

Plans call for capturing the caribou at Wells Gray Provincial Park near Prince George. The animals would be released near Metaline Falls.

Washington listed the woodland caribou as endangered in 1982. Sixty caribou were captured in British Columbia and trucked to the Idaho Selkirk mountains in the late 1980s. Today, about 50 caribou roam in two herds in the Selkirks.

Chinook fishing approved on tributaries

An emergency spring chinook salmon season has been approved for Columbia River tributaries. The season applies to tributaries above Bonneville Dam. The Columbia remains closed to protect chinook populations headed for upriver areas.

The extended season is limited at all sites by a one-fish daily limit. Effected tributaries are:

Wind River (open daily April 1-June 15).

Drano Lake (April 3-May 29).

White Salmon River (April 1-June 31).

Klickitat River (April 3-May 29).

Icicle River (May 8-June 30).

Fishing is also allowed on the Columbia one-fourth of a mile downstream of Ringold, on the hatchery side only, from May 16-July 31. Further territorial restrictions also apply on the tributaries, and night fishing is restricted on most rivers. Info: (360) 902-2561.

30 turkey permits available

The 30 leftover permits for turkey hunting in the Idaho Panhandle will go on sale Friday at 8 a.m. at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game office, 2750 Kathleen Ave. in Coeur d’Alene.

The controlled hunter permits will be sold first-come, first-served basis. Applicants must have turkey tag and pay a $5 application fee.

Fly shop offers seminars

The Silver Bow Fly Shop, 902 N. Monroe, begins an ambitious schedule of flying-fishing instruction in April, with seminars on various aspects of the sport scheduled nearly every week through June.

“We have casting clinics, including a womenonly clinic that’s taught by a woman,” said Jake Hood, shop manager. Fees range from $25-$35. Info: 325-1960.

, DataTimes