Marine Area 10 to close Dec. 1, fishing piers to open

OLYMPIA - The recreational salmon fishery will close at the end of the day Nov. 30 in Marine Area 10, the portion of Puget Sound stretching between Seattle and Bremerton.

Anglers fishing in the marine area, which was scheduled to close Jan. 31, currently can keep up to two chum salmon per day. All other salmon must be released.

"With the run of chum winding down, we've decided to take this step to protect any wild chinook that anglers may inadvertently hook," said Ryan Lothrop, Puget Sound recreational fishery manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

State fishery managers previously limited anglers fishing in Marine Area 10 to chum salmon after anglers met the management guideline for chinook. 

Salmon fishing, which is restricted to chum, will also close Nov. 30 as previously scheduled in Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet).

"We had hoped to open Marine Area 9 for a brief fishery around Thanksgiving for hatchery chinook," Lothrop said. "However, we continue to see a large number of juvenile chinook, which are too small to keep under state rules, in the area."

Before the salmon fishing season started, WDFW and tribal co-managers agreed that the number of chinook retained or released by anglers in Admiralty Inlet would be limited to 4,729 fish.

Although rules for the fishery require anglers to release all wild chinook, not all of those fish survive the encounter. Anglers would quickly use a significant portion of the Marine Area 9 limit on young chinook if the area were to open briefly in November, Lothrop said.

"We believe we'll be able to keep the Marine Area 9 open longer for winter chinook fishing if we wait to open until January," Lothrop said.

Marine Area 9 will reopen as scheduled to salmon fishing Jan. 16 through April 15.

Beginning Dec. 1, the five fishing piers in Marine Area 10 and the Edmonds Fishing Pier in Marine Area 9 will reopen for fishing. Anglers fishing from piers are expected to have a minimal impact on chinook.

Anglers should check the fishing rule change at https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/ for more details.