Ocean Salmon and Columbia River Program February 2025
Tucker Jones, Ocean Salmon and Columbia River Program Manager
Summary of 2024 Fisheries and Outlook for 2025 Fisheries
The Columbia River Management section of OSCRP has posted a document to the ODFW website with preliminary estimates of 2024 salmon returns and fishery results, 2025 run forecasts for spring Chinook, summer Chinook, and sockeye salmon, as well as a list of currently-known key dates for 2025 fisheries planning milestones. This document is prepared jointly by the ODFW and WDFW Columbia River fishery management staffs each year. This useful document has a table of salmonid returns/forecasts that will be updated on our website throughout the next few weeks and months as forecasts for fall Chinook, coho, and summer steelhead are completed.
The 2025 upriver spring Chinook run (i.e., Chinook destined to pass upstream of Bonneville Dam) is expected to be 122,500 adult fish which is like the 2024 forecast but would be slightly higher than the estimated 2024 return (it is still well below the 10-year average). The 2024 upriver summer Chinook return came in below last year's forecast, and the 2025 forecasted abundance of 38,000 is probably not high enough to allow for target summer Chinook fisheries in the mainstem Columbia downstream of Priest Rapids Dam in 2025.
The 2024 sockeye return to the upper Columbia River Basin of an estimated 761,682 fish was the highest sockeye return since the construction of Bonneville Dam in 1938. The forecasted 2025 sockeye return of 350,200 fish would be the fourth highest return in the last 10 years.
Run reconstructions are not complete, but preliminary information indicates that the total 2024 adult fall Chinook return was higher than the preseason forecast of 554,000 fish. The 2024 fall Chinook jack returns also appear higher than forecast indicating the 2025 forecast should be similar or higher than the 2024 return.
Although the 2024 coho salmon run reconstruction won't be completed until mid- to late-February; Bonneville Dam jack counts were the third highest since 1977, and preliminary adult returns are already higher than the 2024 forecast.
The upriver summer steelhead return was somewhat improved over the extremely poor returns observed since 2016; however, it was still well below average returns seen prior to that year.
Recreational salmonid fisheries were a popular activity again in 2024. Overall salmon and steelhead angler trips in the Columbia River totaled approximately 381,000 in 2024, the highest since 2016.
Non-tribal commercial fisheries landed approximately 75,300 Chinook and 70,600 coho salmon in combined 2024 Select Area, mainstem, and seine fisheries. Commercial landings of Chinook and coho were 118% and 103% of the respective 10-year averages for those species and were predominately driven by fall catches.
End of field reports for
February 14, 2025