Marine Area 9 Salmon Season Reverts Back To Permanent Rules Starting December 1st

Marine Area 9 salmon season reverts back to permanent rules starting December 1

Action: Marine Area 9 is scheduled to open to salmon fishing on Jan. 16, 2016 and Edmonds Public Fishing Pier opens Dec.1, 2015.

Effective Date: Dec. 1, 2015 through April 15, 2016.

Species affected: Salmon

Location: Marine Area 9 within Puget Sound, including year-round piers.

Reason for action: Test fishery data collected during November indicated there is still a high abundance of juvenile (sublegal-size) chinook salmon present and opening would lead to reaching the allowable limit of total chinook encounters early in the Area 9 winter mark-selective chinook fishery. Delaying the opening to January will allow the state to monitor the sub-legal to legal-sized proportion of chinook. Edmonds Public Fishing pier reverts back the year-round rules as minimal impacts are expected.

Other information: WDFW will continue to evaluate the ratio of legal to sublegal-size chinook to help minimize the risk of anglers encountering sub-legal chinook and maximize fishing opportunity for the mark-selective chinook fishery in Area 9. Specific regulations for the Edmonds Public Fishing Pier can be found in the Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet.

Information contact: Ryan Lothrop (360) 902-2808