By: Peter Rice

Pilot Staff Writer

Rogue River fishermen won't be able to keep wild spring Chinook salmon, thanks to declining numbers and a subsequent regulatory clampdown issued by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).

As of May 31, only 3,245 springers – 22 percent of the ten-year average – had passed a state sponsored counting station at Gold Ray Dam, which is in the Rogue Valley near the town of Gold Hill.

Anglers are still allowed to take hatchery-bred fish that have their adipose fins clipped, except for a section of the Rogue upriver from Gold Ray, where, starting July 1, all springer fishing will be closed.

The new rules are an annoyance for tourism-related fishing businesses like Five Star Charters in Gold Beach. Owner Mark Lottis said Monday that not being able to keep wild fish would reduce the appeal of going out for a trip, especially for beginners.

Still, Lottis expected the action. He's been working with an ODFW committee to come up with a conservation plan, details of which should be released in late summer or fall, according to Dan VanDyke, a Central Point fish biologist with ODFW.

But a big blow to the Gold Beach economy could also come in the form of a misinterpretation: People who think that no wild fish taking means no fishing at all.

"That could be a big impact," said Dave Collar, the assistant manager at the Rogue Outdoor Store in Gold Beach.

The spring Chinook, a run already limited by geography, is especially vulnerable to human-caused habitat destruction.

The fish have evolved to enter fresh water from the ocean in the spring and then hang around in deep pools before spawning in late September and early October, VanDyke said. Because they need relatively high water flows in the typically dry late summer, the fish only live in bigger rivers that are often partly fed by a snowpack. The Columbia, Rogue, Umpqua and Klamath fall into that category.

The fish tend to spawn far upriver, which exposes them to such problems as the William Jess Dam near the town of Trail.

The dam and the reservoir behind it, Van Dyke said, changes the normal flow of the river and also makes the water colder in the winter and warmer in the summer. That, in turn, leads to problems with hatching the sensitive salmon eggs.

"They're susceptible to the impacts of this river system that has changed dramatically," VanDyke said.

"We think spring Chinook on the Rogue are our biggest stock of concern ... Numbers have been down for a number of years."