ODFW Posts Proposed Coastal Wild Fall Chinook Regs

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ORIGINATED FROM ODFW

The Commission is expected to adopt wild Chinook coastal seasons for fall 2025 coastal seasons at their June 13 hybrid meeting in Pendleton. Proposed seasons are available for review, see Agenda Item B in the ODFW Commission Agenda, June 13, 2025. 

Note that the rules for Chinook being considered by the Commission in June still reference 2024 regulations for coho, which will be updated when the Commission considers coho regulations in August.

Register to testify at this link. Testimony will be taken both online via Teams and in person at the meeting. Comments about the proposal can also be submitted online 

Forecasts for wild Chinook are similar to last year for most river basins. Here are the proposed changes:

• Umpqua River: Most of the mainstem would be closed to all salmon fishing under the proposal. Last year’s return of fall Chinook was the lowest on record since 1980. All information indicates that 2025 will not be a good return year for wild and hatchery salmon, which have been impacted by wildfires, drought, warming streams and non-native predators. Bank angling for hatchery Chinook would be allowed from the tips of the jetties to the Hwy 101 bridge with the remainder of the mainstem closed to all salmon fishing. The Smith and North Fork Smith Rivers would also be closed to all salmon fishing.

• Nehalem River: Wild Chinook seasonal bag limit decrease (from 5 to 2 per season).

• Floras Creek/New River: Wild Chinook seasonal bag limit increase (from 1 to 2 per season).
• Hunter Creek: Wild Chinook open in 2025 with 1 daily, 2 per season bag limit.

• Make permanent a Sixes River low flow angling closure from Oct. 1-Nov. 3 (from Hughes House Boat Ramp upstream to the mouth of Crystal Creek). The closure was formerly set by temp rule annually.

Table 1. Current Regulations and Proposed 2025 Changes for Harvest of Wild Fall Chinook.

Population	Current Bag Limit(per day/season)	Proposed Bag Limit Changes(per day/season)	Other Changes
Necanicum	1 / 2
Nehalem	1 / 5	1 / 2
Tillamook	1 / 2
Nestucca	1 / 5
Salmon	2 / 10
Siletz	2 / 10
Yaquina	2 / 10
Alsea	2 / 10
Yachats	1 / 2
Siuslaw	1 / 2
Umpqua	1 / 5	Closed	Open for Hatchery Chinook by bank angling only (i.e., no floating devices) from the tips of the jetties to the Hwy 101 bridge
Coos	2 / 10
Coquille	Closed
Floras/New R.	1 / 1	1 / 2
Sixes	1 / 1		Oct. 1 through Nov. 3 low flow closure from the Hughes House Boat Ramp upstream to the mouth of Crystal Creek
Elk	Closed
Rogue Aggregate	SW Zone rules
L. Rogue	SW Zone rules
Hunter	Closed	1 / 2
Pistol	1 / 5
Chetco	1 / 5
Winchuck	1 / 5

Background‌‌

Wild Chinook‌‌

Management of fisheries for wild fall Chinook in Oregon coastal rivers is guided by the Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) for rivers from the Elk River northward and the Rogue Fall Chinook Conservation Plan (RFCCP) for rivers south of the Elk River. ‌‌‌

The CMP established a tiered sliding scale approach for managing Chinook fisheries. Based upon the prior year’s return and the current year’s forecast, daily and seasonal bag limits may be reduced or increased for a set of rivers within the same geographic area—or fishing may be closed entirely at a certain critical threshold. Likewise, the RFCCP specifies management objectives and regulatory measures based on abundance though some provisions differ from the CMP. ‌‌‌

The Plans recognized that adaptive management would be necessary due to unavoidable uncertainty. In recent years, rapid climate and ocean change is undermining assumptions and increasing forecast uncertainty for wild Chinook. Populations on neighboring rivers, despite similar freshwater and marine conditions, are performing substantially differently in some cases. Spawner abundance has shown large variations, with 11 of 14 monitored populations at or below the critical threshold for one or more years since the CMP was adopted. Finally, a generally increasing freshwater harvest rate in some rivers (vs. generally decreasing ocean harvest rate) may indicate increasing vulnerability to harvest. ‌‌‌

Due to these factors, more conservative management and restrictive bag limits and seasons than what the Plans’ original sliding scales called for will be necessary during some years, as they were in 2023 and 2024.‌‌‌

Wild coho‌‌

The 2025 forecasted ocean abundance of Oregon coast natural coho is 289,000, up from about 232,000 last year and the largest forecast since 2012. Wild coho season proposals will be available later this year. The Commission is expected to adopt coho regulations for fall coastal salmon seasons at their Aug. 15 meeting in Salem. Seasons also require approval from NFMS. Reminder that the rules for Chinook being considered by the Commission in June 2025 still reference 2024 regulations for coho, which will be updated when the Commission considers coho regulations in August.