SKAMOKAWA -- Larry Holland and two helpers dug their feet into the sand and pulled with all their might on a fishing seine net that looped into the Columbia River.
Then Holland, a commercial fishermen who lives in Cathlamet, hopped on an ATV for some extra pulling power to haul the seine towards shore.
After about 15 minutes of effort, Holland, his crew and Department of Fish and Wildlife employees counted the catch of exactly one coho.
A subsequent set of the net yielded nothing, though the netters have gotten 70 salmon per set of the net on other days.
Measuring the effectiveness of beach seines, along with purse seines and a device called a Merwin trap is the goal of a $400,000 study under way on the lower Columbia.
Depending on the study's results, Columbia River commercial fishermen might some day switch from the gillnets they now use to seines or traps.
Alternatives to gillnets are getting more attention as fishery managers try to increase the catch of hatchery salmon so they don't compete with wild salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act. At the same time, biologists want to minimize mortality of wild fish that are caught and released.
For more than 50 years, Columbia River commercial fishermen have used only gillnets, which have a mesh size ranging from six to nine inches and trap fish by the gills. Gillnets must be hauled on board boats before the fish can be removed. By that time, fish that must be released may be injured too badly to survive.
The current study examines three types of nets which are gentler on fish. Seines have a 3 1/2 inch mesh, and fish can be examined while still in the water.
Some of the fish caught are being marked with tags so their movement can be monitored, though all are being returned to the water.
A few hundred yards offshore from the beach seine, another crew swarmed over a purse seine boat skippered by John McKinley of Skamokawa.
A skiff pulled the purse seine, which is 650 feet long and 30 feet deep, out in a circle. The net was drawn in, trapping fish in a small area from which they could be snatched with a dip net.
In five sets of the purse seine Monday, the crew caught 20 chinook, 21 coho and one steelhead.
The net has caught as many as 100 fish per set, Kinne said.
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Commission calls for early end to sturgeon gillnet season
Commission calls for early end to sturgeon gillnet season
The Coastal Conservation Association is calling for an end to the winter sturgeon gillnet season in the lower Columbia River to reduce handling of the dwindling population.
"It is an unneeded season on fish that are in serious trouble,'' said Bruce Polley, CCA Oregon government relations committee chairman. "Because this season is unnecessary to access the commercial quota, it results in an increase in discarded sturgeon in fall salmon/sturgeon gillnet fisheries.''
Historically, the winter sturgeon season has been in January and early to mid-February.
Area tribes begin annual fish sales
Area tribes begin annual fish sales
The Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes have begun their annual fish gill-netting and fish sales program at several locations along the Columbia River.
Salmon, steelhead and coho are available from tribal fishers now, but the chinook run should peak in the tribal fishing areas about the second week of September.
The large run of salmon and steelhead should result in ongoing sales of Columbia River fish for the next several weeks.
Wash. Supreme Court upholds tribal fishing rights
Wash. Supreme Court upholds tribal fishing rights
State wildlife authorities had no right to cite a Yakama Nation fisherman for catching undersized fish at a Columbia River tribal fishing site, the Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a split decision.
SUPREME COURT: Washington high court upholds tribal fishing rights
SUPREME COURT: Washington high court upholds tribal fishing rights
YAKIMA — The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that the state cannot police tribal fishermen at a Columbia River fishing site south of Goldendale.
The court ruled in a 6-3 decision Thursday the fishing site is an established reservation held in trust for the Yakama Nation, and tribal fishermen retain sovereignty there.
The case stems from a 2008 citation by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife for tribal fisherman Lester Ray Jim.
Washington wildlife officials set sights on northern pike
Washington wildlife officials set sights on northern pike
SPOKANE -- State wildlife officials will ask fishermen to help control the advance of northern pike toward the Columbia River.
Fishery managers in the next few months plan to enlist anglers to remove as many northern pike as possible from the Pend Oreille River, which is the route the voracious species is following from Idaho and Montana.
Studies conducted with the Kalispel Tribe and Eastern Washington University show a dramatic decline in native minnows, largemouth bass, yellow perch and other fish species that inhabit the 55-mile Box Canyon Reservoir.
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