For the 23rd consecutive year, the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program met its annual goal to remove 10-20 percent of pikeminnow, 9 inches or longer, in the Columbia and Snake rivers.
Northern pikeminnow, which average 8 to 12 inches in length, eat millions of salmon and steelhead juveniles each year in the Columbia and Snake rivers. When juvenile salmon are preparing to migrate out into the main river systems for their journey back to the ocean, pikeminnow are migrating upstream to spawn and schools of salmon are intercepted and eaten. Pikeminnow have been known to eat juvenile salmon to the point of satiation.
The goal of the program is not to eliminate Northern pikeminnow, but to reduce the average size and number of larger fish, according to a press release Thursday by the Bonneville Power Administration.
Some of the statistics for the 2020 season include:
• Fish removed: 103,114
• Registered anglers: 2,450
• Average angler catch: 6.5 fish/day
• Total paid to anglers: $839,461
• Top angler: removed 5,579 fish and earned $48,501
The program, funded by BPA and administered by Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the states of Oregon and Washington, has run for 30 years, typically from May 1 through Sept. 30.
Due to Washington and Oregon closing and limiting fishing areas and boat ramps during the COVID-19 outbreak, the program was delayed 11 days. That prompted the season to be extended until Oct. 11, 2020.
“The COVID-19 pandemic presented some unique challenges for implementing a sport-reward fishery that relies on recreational angler participation,” said Eric Winther, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Columbia River Predator Control Program project leader. “We realized in the spring that circumstances would require some flexibility in how we operated the registration stations, and that many of our return anglers might have to rethink their own recreation plans. Despite the late start to the season, anglers were able to spend a full five-month season on the rivers and remove thousands of pikeminnow for the program.”
The season opened May 11, 2020, with anglers earning $5 to $8 for each pikeminnow at least 9 inches long. Specially-tagged fish were worth up to $500 each. Program managers temporarily increased the reward to a flat $10-per-fish reward late in the season to spur participation — which was a bit lower than normal due to the pandemic — and to take advantage of favorable river conditions during the season’s 11-day extension in October.
Since 1990, anglers paid through the program have removed more than 5.2 million predatory pikeminnow. Biologists estimate that the program has reduced predation on young salmon and steelhead by up to 40 percent from pre-program levels.
“When we remove the larger northern pikeminnow, more young salmon and steelhead have a better chance of making it to the ocean and eventually returning to the basin as adults,” BPA Program Manager Eric McOmie said in the press release.
The 2021 season is expected to operate from May 1 through Sept. 30, 2021. For more information about the program, call 800-858-9015 or visit www.pikeminnow.org.
