White sturgeon mitigation and restoration in the Columbia and Snake Rivers upstream from Bonneville Dam

The Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife conducted a survey of the 2000 sport fishery on the Columbia River from Bonneville Dam upstream to McNary Dam (Zone 6 management unit) to estimate white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus harvest. The sport fishery was closed to the retention of sturgeon when harvest was projected to reach respective harvest guidelines April 8 in Bonneville Reservoir and June 19 in The Dalles Reservoir. The guideline was not attained in John Day Reservoir and the retention fishery remained open year-round. An estimated 1,262, 809, and 434 white sturgeon were harvested in 2000 sport fisheries in Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day reservoirs, respectively. Intense management of Zone 6 sport fisheries since 1995 has kept cumulative harvest at guideline levels and the goal of rebuilding white sturgeon populations is working in all three reservoirs. Treaty Indian commercial fishers landed 1,145 white sturgeon from Bonneville Reservoir, 1,456 from The Dalles Reservoir, and 846 from John Day Reservoir during gill net and setline fisheries. The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and the Yakama Indian Nation estimated an additional 343 fish were harvested during 2000 subsistence fisheries.