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PFMC sets ocean salmon season options by Mark Freeman of the Mail Tribune Friday, March 22nd 2019 A A A chinook fights off the coast near Brookings last summer.Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch A need to curtail catches of chinook salmon returning to the Klamath and Sacramento rivers could lead to a shorter but still robust summer ocean salmon-fishing season off the Southern Oregon coast. The Pacific Fishery Management Council has crafted three uninterrupted recreational fishing season options for 2019, and two of the options call for a summer season that includes both the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. A third option would shut the season down two weeks before Memorial Day. The council is taking comments on the options, with a public meeting planned for Tuesday, March 25, at the Red Lion Hotel in Coos Bay. Season options for Humbug Mountain near Port Orford to the California border are May 18 through Aug. 28, May 18 through Sept. 2, and May 25 through Sept. 2. In each case fishing would be open seven days a week with a limit of two salmon except coho per day, with a 24-inch minimum size. However, the entire Oregon Coast is poised to have a large fin-clipped coho salmon season, with options calling for a statewide quota running between 80,000 and 105,000 fish. The 80,000 fin-clipped coho option also includes a season on wild coho, with an 8,000-fish quota. The Southern Oregon ports of Brookings and Gold Beach are in the Oregon portion of the Klamath Management Zone, which has its seasons set independently by the council. While Klamath and Sacramento chinook are considered overfished, each option floated by the council would meet chinook-spawning goals for those two rivers, according to the council. Klamath and Sacramento Rogue River chinook mill about together in the ocean, so seasons are crafted to protect the weakest of the stocks even if others are faring well. News In Photos Loading ...