18 July
2003
Media Contact:
Charles Hudson, CRITFC,
(503) 731-1275
Mike Matylewich, CRITFC, (503) 731-1251
Stuart Ellis, CRITFC, (503) 731-1312
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Tribes extend commercial
summer chinook gillnet season
Portland, Oregon
- The Columbia River
Basin’s four treaty fishing tribes are extending their commercial
gillnet fishery for summer chinook salmon next week.
The Columbia River Compact, representing the states of Oregon and
Washington, and fishers from Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Nez
Perce tribes agreed today to reopen a commercial gillnet fishery for
summer chinook that ended Wednesday.
The new period is from 6 a.m. Monday, July 21, to 6 p.m. Wednesday,
July 23. Fresh fish caught during the fishery will be available to
the public at over-the-bank sales sites throughout the Columbia Basin.
The tribes can harvest 5 percent of the estimated 120,000 returning
summer chinook salmon, or about 6,000 fish. Estimated tribal catches
to date are 3,000 fish, leaving another 3,000 available for tribal
harvest.
This week's commercial gillnet season for summer chinook was the first
in 38 years.
Commercial sales of platform and hook-and-line-caught chinook and
steelhead opened July 3 and also will continue through 6 p.m. Saturday,
July 26.
Sales of gillnet-caught fish will be offered at various sites throughout
Zone 6, a 150-mile stretch of the Columbia between the Bonneville
Dam and McNary Dam near Umatilla. Chinook, steelhead, walleye, shad
and carp will be sold. Sockeye salmon and sturgeon will not be available
for sale during the commercial fishing period.
Tribal sellers can be found at various locations between Bonneville
Dam and McNary Dam. Major sales locations include the Marine Park
at Cascade Locks, Lone Pine at The Dalles and the boat launch near
Roosevelt, Wash. Buyers should bring sufficient ice and coolers to
keep fish fresh. Sales are cash only. Customers can call toll-free
(888) 289-1855 for more information.
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
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