More than one million coho salmon, 500,000 steelhead and 300,000 Chinook salmon -- many from hatcheries operated or funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- are expected to return to the Columbia River basin this fall, fueling the biggest fishing frenzy in decades and generating millions of dollars for local economies.
Already, the fall catch at the mouth of the Columbia has totaled about 12,000 Chinook and 211,000 coho. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reports a total of approximately 158,000 angler trips to Buoy 10 and the ocean specifically to take advantage of the run.
Spring fishing was awesome, too.
Some 391,000 adult spring chinook crossed Bonneville Dam, the largest return since counting began when the dam was built in 1938. For the first time in 24 years, anglers were able to fish for spring Chinook in the lower Columbia River mainstem and the mainstem between The Dalles Dam and McNary Dam.
Columbia River tribes had their largest mainstem harvest since 1955. They have had little or no commercial fishing for spring chinook in the Columbia River mainstem since 1977.
All of this means an economic bonanza for many local businesses.
"This is about the Northwest life rekindled, because this run has been about catching not just fishing," said Paul Mayer, president of Stevens Marine, a boat retailer with stores in Milwaukie, Tigard and Medford. "Ive seen the looks on peoples faces whove been out there and it reminds me of the runs in the 1970s that got them interested in fishing to begin with."
A national survey shows that each angler trip is conservatively worth about $103 to the local economy. The spring/summer sport fishery this year, also record-setting, pumped about $16 million into communities on both sides of the Columbia River. That figure doesn
