Columbia River gains surprising sockeye run

Tag : scaffold netting

WASHOUGAL -- Sweat beads on Les Clark's forehead as he shuffles afew feet from the controls of his 32-foot boat to pull fish fromthe nearby gill net.
It's a nearly one-man show aboard his boat, and fishing regulatorshave given 79-year-old Clark and other commercial fishermen just asix-hour window to catch as many sockeye as possible in the LowerColumbia River.
Miles upriver, just above Bonneville Dam, tribal fishermen arenetting sockeye after sockeye from wood scaffolds anchored to largepoles reaching over the water.
For much of the past half-century, the returns of sockeye -- afish listed as endangered in the Snake River in Idaho -- have beenmeager at best in the Columbia River.
But this year, the fish commonly known as bluebacks are returningin numbers that haven't been seen since the mid-1950s, and bothtribal and nontribal commercial fishermen are being allowed a swipeat the run.
So far, an estimated 1,000 sockeye have been caught on this day inthe lower river, which is open for commercial sockeye fishing forthe first time in four years.
Sportsmen get to keep two sockeye each a day through this weekend,while tribal scaffold fishing has no daily limits and is openyear-round.
So far, about 194,000 sockeye have passed Bonneville Dam, and therun this year is expected to surpass 230,000, making it the largestsince 1956, said Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commissionbiologist Stuart Ellis. It's quite a contrast from the mere 25,400that returned last year, he said.
"It's an enormous run and somewhat unexpected," he said.
Commercial fish buyers are paying about $3 a pound for sockeye, sohis catch will barely cover the day's cost of fuel for his boat.
"We didn't lose any money, but we didn't make too much moneyeither," said Clark, who has fished the Lower Columbia River for 65years. "That's fishing -- sometimes you don't do so good and othertimes you do extra good."
Tribal fishermen, however, are getting up to $7 a pound for freshlycaught sockeye -- considered the best tasting fish the river has tooffer. Tribal members usually get a better price for fresh fishsold directly to the public than what commercial buyers pay. Amongthe smaller salmon species, an average sockeye weighs 3 to 5pounds.
Near Cascade Locks, Ore., about a half-mile east of Bonneville Dam,tribal members fish from about a dozen scaffolds that line bothsides of the Columbia.
Just above the river off State Route 14 on the Washington side, asign reads "Fish for Sale" at the entrance of a nearby camp. Here,the public can buy fresh sockeye and steelhead from tribal members.
"It's been good," Yakama tribal fishermen Andrew Zack said aboutfish sales. "We're just exercising our (tribal) treaty rights."
His brother, Will, unties the handle of a large hoop net from theend of the 20-foot-long scaffold, and pulls up a blueback and ashad. He gently tosses the shad back into the river, but keeps thesockeye.
After cleaning it, he immediately puts it on ice.
"I've been hitting it hard," he said. "I filled my (coolers) quickand figured I'd better go and sell some."
Shortly afterward, a car pulls into the camp and the driver forksout $21 for a three-pound sockeye.
Yakama fisherman Lew George said he can't recall seeing so manysockeye in the river.
"Incredible. I was probably in my early teens since the last time Isaw fishing anything like that, and I'm 49," he said.
Biologist Ellis said more spills over dams, improved hatcherypractices and strong survival rates among sockeye in the ocean areresponsible for the large run.
Most of the sockeye in the Columbia River are headed for LakeWenatchee and the Okanagon River, and fisheries on the ColumbiaRiver won't have much impact on the Snake River run, he said.