Gardiner salmon derby group cancels 2021 event

With state officials closing of the 2020-2021 winter salmon seasons for several marine areas, the Gardiner Salmon Derby Association have decided to cancel the 2021 Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby, event organizers said last week.

The association’s board members voted to cancel the annual event rather than rescheduling it to a later date in 2021, leaving open the idea of an alternate event that could raise funds for the nonprofits the derby has supported.

Association representatives also said they hope to host the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby in March 22, provided the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) opens the winter salmon season for 2021-22.

Updates will be posted at www.gardinersalmonderby.org or www.facebook/SalmonDerby.

WDFW officials cancelled winter fishing seasons for Marine areas 6, 7 and 9 earlier this year.

Since 1973, volunteers from Gardiner and the North Olympic Peninsula have hosted the salmon derby traditionally in February or March.

The 2019 derby was held March 13-15, shortly before Washington state’s COVID-19 “Stay Home, Stay Safe” restrictions were enacted. In all, 820 tickets were sold and 144 salmon weighing 6 pounds or more were caught. Brandon Leeper of Bellingham won the top prize with a 15-pound 7-ounce salmon, taking home $10,000 of a prize ladder worth more than $20,000.

The Gardiner Salmon Derby Association noted that the COVID-19 crisis has caused numerous 2020 derbies, many of which were part of the Northwest Marine Trade Association’s Northwest Fishing Derby Series. The grand prize of that series, a boat valued at $75,000, will be awarded in September following the conclusion of the Everett Coho Derby.

Fishing derby presidents agreed on June 30 to cancel the 2021 Northwest Fishing Derby Series.