PORT ANGELES – Fishing on the Elwha River and its tributaries will stay shut down for at least one more year.
The National Park Service and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe announced Friday they are extending the fishing closure through June of 2022.
The closure has been in place since 2011. Officials say the moratorium aims to protect depleted native salmonid populations, including four federally listed fish species, to re-colonize habitat between and upstream of the river’s two former dam sites.
Fishing in mountain lakes in the Elwha River basin within Olympic National Park and Lake Sutherland, generally occurring from the fourth Saturday in April through October 31, will not be impacted by the Elwha River closure.
Fisheries managers say recreational and commercial fishing will resume on the Elwha when there is broad distribution of spawning adults in newly accessible habitats above the former dam sites, when spawning occurs at a rate that allows for population growth and diversity, and when there is a harvestable surplus of fish returning to the Elwha River.