Articles written by The Columbia Basin Bulletin
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Prediction: More salmon headed to Columbia
NOAA Fisheries saw the lowest number of juvenile coho salmon in 21 years in offshore test nets in 2017, leading to low returns of coho to the Columbia River basin one year later in 2018 when the fish were adults. However, in 2018 NOAA netted many...
Drought conditions hitting Washington, Oregon
Hot and dry weather has yielded emerging drought conditions across much of Oregon and Washington, but healthy streamflows persist throughout much of the basin mostly due to last winter’s ample snowpack. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a press r...
Sea lion task force makes recommendations for fish
Lethal removal of sea lions at Bonneville Dam is likely not reducing predation on salmon and steelhead at the dam by California sea lions (CSL). That is the general opinion of the NOAA Fisheries’ Pinniped-Fishery Interactive Task Force that met f...
Study looks at salmon ocean entry
Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead, which are from the same species, but of differing stocks, enter the river’s estuary and the ocean at different times and at different sizes, a variation that contributes to the resilience of the fish. B...
Springer season ends a day early
The early phase of recreational spring chinook season on the lower Columbia River ended April 8, one day earlier than the Saturday deadline set in January by the two-state Columbia River Compact. The Compact agreed at its hearing April 7 to close...
Hatchery reform plan lists changes for local rivers
The public is invited to comment on a new plan designed to align state fisheries and hatchery operations to support the recovery of wild salmon and steelhead populations in the lower Columbia River Basin. The Lower Columbia Conservation and...
Predicted El Nino does its thing
The National Weather Service has warned for months that this year’s El Niño weather pattern will be among the strongest on record, with predictions for higher-than-normal precipitation and warmer-than-normal temperatures in the Pacific Northwest th...
Record chinook run, but coho, steelhead runs lag behind
The number of fall chinook passing Bonneville Dam continues to mount with nearly 1,000 more fish over the dam last week, increasing the record run to 954,376, or 212 percent of the 10-year average, according to NOAA Fisheries’ Paul Wagner at the N...
Analysis: Microbeads pose a growing threat
An outright ban on the common use of plastic "microbeads" from products that enter wastewater is the best way to protect water quality, wildlife, and resources used by people, a group of conservation scientists suggest in a new analysis. These...
Chum restoration project showing good returns
A chum salmon reintroduction project has quietly and successfully moved beyond its fifth year in the Columbia River between Astoria and Clatskanie. Once one of the most abundant of salmon species in the Columbia River, chum salmon made up as much as...
Chinook run is second largest
The forecasted run of fall chinook salmon into the Columbia River rose to 1,095,900, more than 15 percent higher than the preseason forecast of 925,300 chinook. Reporting the increase Sept. 17 to the two-state Columbia River Compact, the U.S. v...
Record breaking salmon harvest continues
The Columbia River Compact on Wednesday approved a new round of commercial fisheries for both tribal and non-Indian commercial netters on the mainstem Columbia that will likely bring to a close what has been a record-breaking harvest on a...
Fall chinook run expectation lowered
Tribal and non-tribal commercial fishers, as well as lower Columbia River anglers, are sweeping in tens of thousands of salmon this year even while fishery managers keep a close watch on impacts to protected stocks such as so-called “B” ste...
Compact approves trial seine fisheries
The Columbia River Compact on Aug. 12 gave the green light to the first commercial seine fishing for salmon on the lower Columbia River mainstem since the nets were prohibited under state law by Washington in 1935 and by Oregon in 1950. The pilot...
Fall salmon season looks to be huge
Aug. 1 marked the opening of the long-awaited fall fishing season on the mainstem Columbia River, which this year is expected to see a record number of fall chinook salmon, a run of coho spawners forecast to be 156 percent of the 2004-2013 average...
Warm gulf bodes poor steelhead survival
Menacing “El Nino” signs have eased though not disappeared. But another potential salmon nemesis – an apparent warm phase Pacific Decadal Oscillation – has made an appearance with warmer than average sea surface water conditions from the Gulf of...
Corps of Engineers extends comment period on cormorant proposal
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week announced it has extended by 15 days the public comment period on a draft plan detailing possible alternatives to reduce predation by double-crested cormorants on juvenile salmon and steelhead that are...
States to issue permits for seine fisheries this fall
A next big step down a “presumptive path” toward phasing out non-tribal commercial gill-nets on the lower Columbia River will be the deployment late this summer of 10 permit holders equipped with beach and purse seines, equipment that had been out...
Sockeye run nearing record 600,000 fish
The sockeye salmon tally this year at the lower Columbia River's Bonneville Dam on July 8 set a record for any season since the construction of the dam was completed in 1938 and the counts began....
Net pens planned to aid gillnetters
The Cathlamet Channel in southwest Washington is about to become the state’s second off-channel or select area commercial gill-net fishery. In a state that has few potential off-channel sites for rearing and fishing on the lower Columbia River, this...
Select areas closed for upriver salmon
A higher-than-anticipated early commercial catch of upriver spring chinook in Columbia River estuary “select areas” forced Oregon and Washington officials to rescind six fishing periods that had been scheduled this week. The upriver spring chi...
