Fishery Downstream of Bonneville Dam Closed

The Warm Springs tribes are taking action to close the fishery downstream of Bonneville Dam because of concerns about the spring chinook run size, as well as the fairly high catches downstream of Bonneville. Mark Manion with the Warm Springs Branch of Natural Resources says there is a risk that this year’s spring chinook run could be well below forecast.  The harvest rates change, he says, based on the run size, “if the run size is less than forecast it becomes more complicated for the tribes to meet the two priorities of the ceremonial fishery and keeping the Zone 6 platforms open for subsistence use.” Manion says that until there is more certainty about the run size and the actual available number of fish to catch, the fishery downstream of Bonneville Dam will be closed.