DATE: July 27, 2000
CONTACT: Dick Geist 360-902-2733 or Pat Pattillo, 360-902-2705

• A brief sport salmon fishing opening has been scheduled for Elliott Bay from noon August 4 to noon August 7, and from noon August 11 to noon August 14. After that, fishing will be closed.

• The fishery will not hinder efforts to recover wild Puget Sound chinook stocks. State and tribal salmon managers have developed the fishing plan for Elliott Bay this year through the public, fish season-setting process known as North of Falcon. The National Marine Fisheries Service reviewed and approved the plan as being consistent with provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

• Additional openings may be warranted after August 14 if fish are available. The sport fishery openings on the two weekends in early August will occur east of a line from Pier 91 to Duwamish Head, an area where the Green River chinook will be concentrated and other critical Puget Sound stocks can be avoided.

• The Muckleshoot and Suquamish tribes plan one-night-a- week net fisheries during the weeks of August 7 and August 14.

• The Muckleshoot Tribe is conducting test fisheries to evaluate the strength of the Green River fall chinook run. The sport and tribal fisheries may be modified or canceled if the tests reveal any unexpected fluctuations in run size numbers. Last year, for example, a brief recreational season that had been planned was canceled after test fisheries indicated fish were returning at numbers lower than predicted. Any emergency changes in the sport fishing rules will be circulated to the various media outlets, and the information will additionally be carried on the WDFW Hotline Number, (360) 902-2500.

• During the Elliott Bay sport fishing openings on the first two week ends in August, Elliott Bay anglers each day may keep two salmon, only one of the two may be a chinook.

• WDFW will monitor the sport fishery with unprecedented numbers of enforcement officers and samplers to ensure regulations are obeyed and the department has an accurate, on-going estimate of harvest.

  Click on map for enlargement

• Salmon anglers should take careful note of boundaries that define the chinook open and closed fishing areas, as well as zones that are totally closed to salmon angling. The special area restrictions of this fishery are necessary to protect other Puget Sound chinook stocks, including Lake Washington wild chinook. Many traditional salmon fishing areas are closed when large numbers of wild chinook are present. To be certain of the boundaries, anglers are advised to consult the sport fishing rules pamphlet, "Fishing in Washington," available from license distributors, regional offices, sporting goods stores, and on the WDFW website.

• Scientists from the department, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Seattle-area tribes expect 9,500 wild and 13,200 hatchery fall chinook to return to the waters of Elliott Bay. Of the total, WDFW and tribal biologists agree that up to 8,800 Green River fall chinook, including both wild and hatchery fish, can be harvested by tribal and non-tribal fishers in fisheries in the bay and river.

• Catches in fisheries will be controlled to ensure at least 5,800 wild chinook reach the spawning grounds in the river. Scientists believe this number of spawning chinook will maintain a healthy chinook population in the Green River into the future if spawning and rearing habitats receive appropriate protection.

• The Green River wild chinook run has exceeded its spawning in each of the last 5 years.

• Only 2,400 of the hatchery chinook are needed for continuation of production programs at Green River Hatchery, leaving the balance available for harvest. The hatchery needs such a limited number of spawners because eggs and fry are protected from the majority of mortality factors encountered in the wild environment during the early stages of the salmon's life.

• Although marking, by clipping off the adipose fin, of all chinook produced in Puget Sound hatcheries is proceeding, the Green River hatchery chinook returning this year are not distinguishable from the wild fish, as they will be in future years. In the future, when all the hatchery fish are marked and identified, scientists will have greater information, over the course of the season, about the wild versus hatchery composition of the Green River fall chinook run.

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