A Chinook salmon swims with sockeye salmon past the Bonneville Dam fish-counting window on the Columbia River.

OLYMPIA — With returns continuing to come in above expectations, fishery managers from Washington and Oregon agreed to increase the daily spring Chinook limit on the portion of river below Bonneville from June 4-15.

Two additional days were also added to the estuary sturgeon retention fishery.

The spring Chinook forecast was increased to 192,900 fish, up from the pre-season forecast of 122,900. Through June 1, 149,031 fish had passed Bonneville Dam, which is more than double the recent five-year average for that date.

“It’s heartening to see a stronger return of spring Chinook this year,” said Ryan Lothrop, Columbia River fisheries manager with WDFW. “We’ve looked carefully at catch so far, and feel comfortable offering additional days above Bonneville, while expanding opportunity below the dam as well. As always, we’ll continue to adaptively manage this fishery, but we’re optimistic these openings will help carry us straight into the summer season.”

In addition to the spring Chinook fishery, managers agreed to add two days — Wednesday, June 8 and Saturday, June 11 — to the sturgeon retention fishery from the Columbia River mouth at Buoy 10 to the Wauna Powerlines. All previous regulations remain in effect, including a 2 p.m. closure to all sturgeon fishing on retention days.

For more information on these and other fishing rule changes, visit WDFW’s emergency regulations page at fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/, and see permanent rules at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations.

The summer Chinook season is expected to run June 16 through June 22 from the Astoria-Megler Bridge to Bonneville.