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Snake River Opens Sept. 1 for Fall Chinook Fishing by Staff KBKW, August 31, 2009

OLYMPIA - Two sections of the lower Snake River in southeast Washington will open for fall chinook salmon fishing Sept. 1 with some changes from last year's season, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today.

A good return of upriver bright chinook this year will allow the department to open the fishery on marked, hatchery-reared fish, said Glen Mendel, district fish biologist for WDFW.

The hatchery chinook fishery, which is not listed in WDFW's Fishing in Washington sportfishing rules pamphlet, is scheduled to remain open through Oct. 15, but could close earlier if the allowable incidental impact to wild chinook is reached. The fishery is allowed under a federal permit that prescribes strict limits on the incidental catch of wild salmon protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).