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[ODFW News]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 	
Contact: Ann Snyder, 503-947-6010 - Toll-free within Oregon:
800-720-6339 (ODFW)
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us  Fax: (503) 947-6009


For Immediate Release	Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Summer season commercial and sport fisheries announced by Columbia
River Compact agencies

SALEM - The Columbia River Compact agencies of Oregon and Washington
announced today the commercial fishing seasons:

Non-Indian commercial fishing periods will take place Wednesday, June
30, 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. (12 hours), and Friday, July 2, 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. (12
hours), from the mouth of the Columbia River upstream to the Longview
Bridge. Sanctuaries will be in effect at Grays River, Big Creek, Gnat
Creek and Elokomin. 

Allowed gear will be a single wall floater gill net with a 4-1/2-inch
maximum mesh size and a net length not to exceed 175 fathoms. All
sockeye, all adipose fin-clipped chinook and coho, and all shad and
sturgeon may be retained and sold. Any non-adipose fin-clipped chinook
and coho, and any steelhead must be released immediately. 

The Treaty Indian commercial salmon fishery will take place from 6 a.m.
Wednesday, June 30, to 6 p.m.  Friday, July 2 (60 hours) in all of Zone
6. All standard sanctuaries will be in effect, with the exception that
there will be no Spring Creek sanctuary. 

There is no mesh size restriction for this fishery. All sockeye,
chinook, steelhead, coho, shad, walleye and carp may be retained and
sold. Sturgeon may not be sold, but sturgeon between 4 and 5 feet in
length in The Dalles and John Day pools may be kept for subsistence use,
and sturgeon 45-60 inches in length in the Bonneville pool also may be
kept for subsistence use. 

Oregon and Washington also approved a non-Indian sport fishery for
sockeye in the mainstem Columbia River from June 30 through September
30, 2004, from the Tongue Point Rocky Point line upstream to the Highway
395 bridge at Pasco, Wash.

A teleconference compact hearing set for today at 3 p.m. will review
the recreational fishery downstream from the Wauna powerlines.

The Compact's July meeting is set for 10 a.m. Thursday, July 29, at the
Cowlitz County PUD, 961 12th Ave., Longview, Wash. The meeting will be
to review salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon stock status, and consider
non-Indian commercial fishing seasons in the mainstem Columbia River and
select areas. 

An August hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, August 20, at
the Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Enforcement Office located at
4270 Westcliff Dr., Hood River, Ore., to review salmon, steelhead and
sturgeon stock status, and consider treaty Indian and non-Indian
commercial fishing seasons in the Columbia River. 

Recorded sport fishery updates and action notices can be accessed by
calling 503-657-2000, Ext. 392.

Recorded commercial fishery updates and action notices can be accessed
by calling 503-657-2000, Ext. 391.

Joint staff reports, fact sheets, and Columbia River action notices are
available at:   
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ODFWhtml/InfoCntrFish/InterFish/Index.html

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Information and Education Division
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
(503) 947-6002