HOOK AND FUR By Bob Bropwn Washington and Oregon fishery managers have approved a limited smelt fishery on the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers on specific days in February. Under this year's rules, the Cowlitz will be open to recreational dip netting along the shore from 6 a.m. to noon Feb. 7 and Feb. 14. Each dip netter may retain 10 pounds of smelt per day, with no more than one day's limit in possession. Ten pounds is about a quarter of a five-gallon bucket. No fishing license is required to dip for smelt in Washington. Smelt fishing in Oregon's Sandy River will open in early to mid-March under similar rules. The two states also approved a commercial fishery for smelt that will run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays in February on the Columbia River, downstream from Warrior Rock at the mouth of the Lewis River. In 2014, sport dippers harvested an estimated 198,000 pounds of eulachon on the Cowlitz last year during two days of fishing in March. The mainstem commercial fishery harvested an estimated 18,600 pounds of fish during the same month. Ron Roler, Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), said, GÇ¥We are expecting another strong return in 2015, although not quite as large as the huge return of nearly 200 million smelt that came back to the Columbia River last year. These fisheries have a limited impact on the overall smelt return, while gathering biological data on the species abundance. So it's still okay to have fun catching them on days when the fishery is open. The NOAA Fisheries, which oversees ESA-listed stocks, supports limited fisheries that conduct research.GÇ¥ -á The monarch of Washington shellfish -á Last week, -áWDFW authorized a razor clam dig at several coastal beaches. The fishery opened Jan. 30 and will run through Feb. 6 at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, and Mocrocks and Copalis beaches. WDFW has also proposed additional digs at the same beaches Feb. 15-22 if marine toxin tests are favorable. The best digging typically occurs one to two hours below low tide. No digging is allowed at any beach before noon. While not widely publicized, the Pacific razor clam, sometimes referred to as the monarch of state shellfish, happens to be one of the most sought after shellfish in Washington. It is a fishery that kind of hangs in the shadows and really doesn't get a great deal of public attention until it is announced a clam digging fishery has been authorized. When that happens, it usually results in a whirlwind of people heading toward coastal beaches. According to WDFW, it is not unusual to have as many as a thousand people per mile digging for clams on area beaches. In past years, upward of 300,000 individuals made about 775,000 trips to ocean beaches and harvested six to 13 million razor clams. That changed in the mid-1980s when 250,000 trips produced only about 3 million clams. The decline was thought to be a direct result of over harvest and disease. In Washington, razor clams grow to a maximum length of six inches, but some have been known to reach to seven inches (very rare). Razor clams are found primarily on inter- tidal coastal beaches (those that are exposed at low tides) from a plus-three-foot level to a minus-two-foot tide level. In contrast, razor clams found in Alaska may grow to 11 inches in length and live to be 15 years old, due to colder water temperatures and slower growth rates. The life expectancy for Washington clams is five years, but there are exceptions. Razor clams suffer from a high degree of mortality due to predation by Dungeness crabs, shore birds, fish and of course human diggers. -á Bob Brown, who lives in Roy, is a freelance outdoors writer. He can be contacted at robertb1285@fairpoint.net
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