Strong chinook run likely

PENDLETON, Ore. — Fishery officials project a strong return of spring chinook to the Columbia River this year.

A panel of federal, state and tribal officials forecasts 269,300 spring chinook to return to the mouth of the Columbia.

The forecast is largely based on the big return of spring chinook jacks — sexually immature 2-year-old fish — last year. More than 16,600 passed Bonneville Dam last spring compared to 2,908 in 2006 and a 10-year average of 8,234, according to numbers from the Fish Passage Center, which collects data on juvenile and adult salmon passage through the mainstem hydrosystem in the Columbia River Basin.

Though the forecast for spring chinook on the Columbia River looks good, the spring run on the Willamette River is expected to be the lowest since 1997 — about 34,000 fish.

If the predictions come true, "2008 will mark the only time in recent years in which the expected Willamette run is weak and the expected Columbia River run is strong," according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Fishery officials monitor fish runs during the season, primarily via dam counts and fish-catch data.