Salmon Fishing Ban on Columbia River

PORTLAND, Ore. — Wildlife officials from Oregon and Washington have voted to close spring salmon fishing on the Columbia River to save endangered fish runs.

Members of the Columbia River Compact, a board made up of wildlife officials from the states, voted to close the fishing season effective Feb. 16. It is the first fishing ban on the river since the compact was formed in 1918.

The closure bans all sport and commercial fishing along 140 miles of the lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam. The compact members also asked Native Americans on the upper Columbia to limit their catch of Spring Chinook salmon to just enough for “ceremonial and subsistence purposes.”