January 6, 2025 3:05 a.m.

On Friday, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that a temporary rule will prohibit wild spring Chinook salmon harvest on the mainstem Umpqua River and reduce the North Umpqua bag limit.

An ODFW release said from February 1st through June 30th:
*Only hatchery spring Chinook may be kept on the mainstem Umpqua River. Harvesting wild spring Chinook, both jacks and adults, is prohibited
*Just one adult wild spring Chinook per day, 10 per year, may be kept on the North Umpqua River.
*Anglers may still retain hatchery spring Chinook.

The temporary rule is meant to help protect populations returning to the South and North Umpqua rivers as biologists forecast low returns of adult wild spring Chinook this year.
The release said South Umpqua adult wild spring Chinook were low in 2024 with just 111 wild fish, while runs on the North Umpqua were also well below average. This combination of low returns in 2024 and a low forecast in 2025 is triggering the restriction of wild spring Chinook harvesting according to the sliding scale in the ODFW Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan.

ODFW continues to work with its partners: the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and NOAA Fisheries, to share information and address habitat and passage issues for spring Chinook in the upper South Umpqua River.

The CMP was adopted in 2014 by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. It was developed with help from stakeholders within the Umpqua Basin along the Oregon coast.