Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Oregon and Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife have released their annual guidelines for sturgeon and spring chinook fishing in the Columbia and Willamette rivers.

For sturgeon fans the news is disappointing: the allowed catch has dropped 40-percent.

Steve Williams with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says he’s seen a decline in the sturgeon population, particularly younger fish.

Steve Williams: “Some variation of the population is probably natural. But sea lions and other things we’re not able to put our finger on may be having an effect on them and its something we’re going to keep trying to address and look into in the future.”As for spring Chinook, the Fish and Wildlife agencies aren’t counting on projections that 470,000 of the salmon will pass Bonneville dam this spring.

High Chinook forecasts haven’t panned out for the past several years. So officials are managing the run as if it will be 40% smaller than predicted.

The Fish and Wildlife agencies will reassess the situation in early May.