The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Thursday adopted a set of salmon seasons that provides both recreational and commercial opportunities coastwide for the first time since 2007.

The recommendation will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval by May 1.

"While modest at best in historical terms, this season represents a substantial improvement over the seasons in California and Oregon in the last two years. It will be good to have fishermen back on the water," said Dave Ortmann, PFMC chairman Dave Ortmann.

The PFMC is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 for the purpose of managing fisheries 3-200 miles off-shore of the United States coastline. The PFMC recommends management measures for fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Fisheries north of Cape Falcon (near Nehalem in northern Oregon) depend largely on Columbia River stocks. Columbia River fall chinook returns in 2009 were mostly above average, although the North Lewis River wild return was slightly less than the management objective of 5,700 adults.

Forecasts for 2010 arre generally above average, including an anticipated record high return of Spring Creek fall chinook tule hatchery stock. Nearly 653,000 fall chinook are forecasted to return to the Columbia River this season, about 234,000 more than the number returning last year.

Columbia River hatchery coho returning to the river mouth in 2009 in the highest numbers since 2001. However, the 2010 forecast is substantially lower.

North of Cape Falcon, the PFMC recommendations call for a non-Indian total allowable catch of 117,000 chinook and 80,000 marked hatchery coho. The total allowable catch for recreational fisheries North of Falcon is 61,000 (non-mark selective equivalent of 54,000) chinook. That's well above the 2009 ocean chinook quota of 20,500.

The PFMC also wants to implement a pilot mark-selective fishery for hatchery chinook in Washington fishing areas. Mark-selective fisheries allow anglers to catch and keep abundant hatchery salmon, which are marked with a missing adipose fin, but require that they release wild salmon.

The selective fishery for hatchery chinook in marine areas 1-4 will run from June 12-30. Anglers will have a daily limit of two hatchery chinook and an overall quota of 12,000 marked chinook.

"This is the first season we will have a selective fishery for hatchery chinook in the ocean," said Phil Anderson, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife director. "By using this management tool we can meet our conservation goals and give anglers an additional opportunity to fish for hatchery chinook in the ocean."

Seasons resume July 1 (or July 4 in the Westport, Wash., sub-area) and end in mid- to late-September. For details, see the season descriptions on the Council website at:

http://www.pcouncil.org/wpcontent/ uploads/PFMC_Adopted_Salmon_Regs.pdf.

While the chinook forecast is up, the Columbia River coho return is expected to be down this year. Nearly 390,000 Columbia River coho are projected to make their way along Washington's coast this summer, compared to one million coho in 2009 -- the largest return in nearly a decade.

The PFMC set a recreational coho harvest quota of 67,200 coho. Last year's ocean coho quota was 176,400.

In the Columbia River, the Buoy 10 fishery will be open for chinook and coho beginning Aug. 1. Through August, anglers will have a two-salmon daily limit, only one of which may be a chinook. From Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, anglers will have a daily limit of two fish, but must release chinook.

The mainstem Columbia River from the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line upstream to Bonneville Dam will be open for recreational salmon fishing from Aug. 1 through Dec. 31. Anglers will be allowed to retain one adult chinook as part of their daily bag limit. Beginning Sept. 12, chinook retention will only be allowed upstream of the Lewis River.

In Puget Sound, most salmon fisheries in the marine areas will be similar to last season, said Pat Pattillo, salmon policy coordinator for WDFW.

Non-Indian ocean commercial fisheries along the coast north of Cape Falcon include traditional chinook seasons in the May-June timeframe and all-salmon seasons in the July to September timeframe. The chinook quota of 56,000 is more than twice the 2009 quota.

The coho quota of 13,000 is about one-third of the 2009 commercial quota.

Tribal ocean fisheries north of Cape Falcon are similar to recent years, although coho quotas are also much smaller than in 2009.

Fisheries south of Cape Falcon are dependent on Sacramento River fall chinook so, in 2008 and 2009, poor Sacramento returns led to the largest fishery closure on record. In 2009, adult spawning escapement for Sacramento River fall chinook failed to meet the escapement goal (122,000 to 180,000 adults) for the third year in a row, leading to the formal declaration of an overfishing concern (although fishing is not considered one of the major causes of the stock's decline).

The escapement goal, or conservation objective, is the optimal number of adult fish returning to spawn in order to maximize the production of the stock.

The forecast for the Sacramento Index of Ocean Abundance in 2010 is 245,500 adults, which provides adequate numbers for limited fisheries, according to the PFMC.

The Klamath River fall chinook forecast for 2010 is also sufficient to allow some fishing opportunity. The Oregon Coast natural coho forecast in 2010 is about 70 percent of last year's forecast, but still above the 15-year average.

Recreational fisheries in Oregon will allow chinook retention and run from Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends. There also will be a concurrent mark-selective coho fishery starting June 26 and ending either Sept. 6 or when the quota of 26,000 is reached.

Recreational fisheries in California are for chinook only and run from Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends in the Eureka/Crescent City area, and from April 3 to Sept. 6 in areas further south; however, fishing will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday south of Point Arena. The minimum size limit will be 24 inches for chinook coastwide.

Commercial fisheries from Cape Falcon south to Humbug Mountain in Oregon will be open from May 1 through August 25 with some three-day-a-week closures in July.

Fisheries in the Humbug Mountain to the California border area will be open in May, July and August, with the July and August fisheries on quotas of 1,500 chinook for each month.

Commercial fisheries in California are very limited, but will include two four-day openers in July south of Point Arena, and additional quota fisheries in the Fort Bragg area during late July and August.

California and Oregon fisheries also include a catch-and-release genetic study during closed periods.

The PFMC developed the management measures after several weeks spent reviewing three season options. The review process included input by federal and state fishery scientists, fishing industry members, public testimony, and three public hearings in coastal communities.

The Council received additional scientific information and took public testimony before taking final action.

More information can be found at:

-- Pacific Fishery Management Council: http://www.pcouncil.org

-- Link to detailed management measures: http://www.pcouncil.org/wpcontent/

uploads/PFMC_Adopted_Salmon_Regs.pdf

-- Geographical points used in salmon management: http://www.pcouncil.org/wpcontent/

uploads/geosalmon.pdf

-- Glossary of terms used in salmon management: http://www.pcouncil.org/wpcontent/

uploads/com_terms_salmon.pdf

Specific regulations for marine areas in Washington and a portion of the Columbia River will be available next week on WDFW's North of Falcon website (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/northfalcon/).