OLYMPIA - Starting Monday (July 29), anglers fishing Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) will be limited to one hatchery chinook as part of their daily limit of two salmon.

State fishery managers are reducing the hatchery chinook limit - down from two per day - to try to stay within the chinook guideline for the area, said Ryan Lothrop, a fish biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

"Catch rates in Marine Area 9 have been high since the fishery got under way 10 days ago," said Lothrop. "So we've decided to make this change now to try and stay within our catch guideline and avoid closing the area's hatchery chinook season early."

As of July 25, preliminary estimates indicate anglers in Marine Area 9 had kept or released about 4,300 legal-size chinook since the fishery opened in mid-July. That's about 66 percent of the 6,528 chinook catch guideline for the hatchery chinook fishery, which is scheduled to be open through August.

The new catch limit will ensure compliance with conservation objectives and state-tribal management plans in Puget Sound, said Lothrop.