"It long was practice by the Columbia River treaty tribes to avoid telling Washington and Oregon — at least in public — how to manage salmon fishing for non-Indians.

For decades, the tribes' testimony was "you manage your fishermen, we'll manage ours.''

About five years ago, that started changing, especially regarding spring chinook destined for the upper Columbia and Snake rivers.

Tribal fishermen get exasperated watching a huge sport fleet in the metropolitan area catch hundreds of spring chinook while daily counts at Bonneville Dam remain in single digits.

At last week's Columbia River Compact meeting in Portland, the tribes continued their trend of giving Washington and Oregon advice how to manage non-Indian fishing in the lower river."

Get the Story:
Allen Thomas: Tribes offer states advice in managing salmon fisheries (The Columbian 2/2)