FISHING
t Smelt Season?
so hope lawmakers pass a bill requiring a license to dip for the ESA-listed stock. MD Johnson Morning, Laura. So there were seals and sea lions in the mainstem Columbia, as well as the Cowlitz, the first week of January. Good news? Laura Heironimus In terms of our forecasting, ocean conditions look pretty good again this year for smelt, and we’re hopeful that will lead to another strong run (in 2023). Some of the indices in the ocean were good, but we also had things like warmer sea surface temperatures. So we’re not 100 percent sure, but generally the trends that we look for as they relate to smelt have been pretty good. And we had a really strong run in 2022, and we expect to see some of those
cohorts coming back again this year. MDJ Is there any reason to believe there won’t be a season in 2023 similar to the one we enjoyed in ’22? LH It’s important to understand (our) forecast for smelt is pretty qualitative, as in we don’t have the sort of data collection needed to do really rigorous modeling for this species. And they’re (smelt) aren’t as well studied as some other species. But from what we can tell, it’s likely we’re going to have a decent run again this year, which would indicate we could start setting the commercial fisheries – and those allow for in-season monitoring and
determining when a recreational fishery might happen. MDJ I understand there’s serious talk about the creation of a smelt license. What’s the status of that development? Is the agency moving forward on that front, or can they move forward on something like that? LH (WDFW) has proposed legislation for the state to consider that would do away with the license exemption for freshwater smelt. That’s going up for debate this year, and we’ll see if any of the legislators pick it up and support the bill. Essentially, it would remove the existing exemption for a license on
Smelt managers are optimistic that this year’s return up the Columbia could yield a recreational opener for a third consecutive year on the lower Cowlitz. While river flows and water temperatures are important factors in run timing, recent seasons have occurred in late February or early March. Commercial test fisheries will establish a runsize estimate and whether it’s strong enough to support a sport opener. (WDFW) nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2023
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