The Snake River
recreational spring chinook fishery opened April 16 and was set to
run through May 31, 2004. Two areas of the Snake River were open for
the fishery in 2004. The first area was from the Texas Rapids boat
launch upstream to the Corps of Engineers boat launch (approximately
one mile) upstream of Little Goose Dam on the south bank of the river;
referred to as the Little Goose (LGO) fishery in this report. The
second fishery area was from the mouth of Wawawai Creek (approximately
three miles) upstream of Lower Granite Dam to Red Wolf Bridge in Clarkston
and will be called the Lower Granite (LGR) fishery in this report.
The preseason
run estimate was for 57,800 spring Chinook at Lower Granite Dam with
about 25% estimated to be of wild origin. Our estimated harvest target
was 2,000 hatchery adult spring chinook, with an allowable Endangered
Species Act (ESA) impact of 116 wild fish mortalities (0.2% ESA impact
on wild Chinook estimated at Columbia River mouth). Assuming a 10%
mortality rate on released fish, this allowed for 1,156 wild adult
encounters. These fisheries were open seven days per week, with daily
hours set from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. The
daily limit for the season consisted of two hatchery (adipose fin-clipped)
spring chinook salmon (adult or jack) per day, with a minimum size
of 12 inches. Anglers were required to use barbless hooks, with hooks
of no more than 5/8 inch from point to shank. Inseason monitoring
of spring chinook was used to reduce the estimated run size from 360,700
to approximately 200,000 fish. Estimates of harvest in lower river
fisheries and the reduced run size prediction indicated the 2% ESA
impact for non-tribal fisheries had been achieved, forcing the closure
of the season on May 7, 2004.
The Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife monitored the fishery using a roving
creel survey which included: boat ramp and shore interviews to collect
catch rate, completed trip and biological information; and effort
counts of shore anglers, boat anglers, and the number of boats (counts
at least four times a day at LGO and at least three times a day at
LGR). Monitoring was conducted at least one weekday and one weekend
day per 7 day period, utilizing a dawn to dusk survey format. Creel
surveys in both the LGO and LGR areas were conducted on 7 days (3
weekend days and 4 weekdays) of the season. The 22 day fisheries had
15 weekdays and 7 weekend days available (this included Friday April
16th as a weekend day, since it was opening day). We sampled 42% of
weekend days and 27% of weekdays. Survey data were summarized weekly
to assure compliance with the harvest target and ESA impact level
that had been set for the fishery.
