QUILCENE — The Big Quilcene River salmon season that had been scheduled to open Sunday has been canceled.

The river’s flow has fallen enough to threaten fish, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.

The hatchery coho season on the Big Quilcene has been canceled because of low water levels caused by the ongoing record summer drought and lack of winter snowpack.

“We just issued an emergency closure on coho fishing in the Big Quilcene,” said Mark Downen of Fish and Wildlife.

The closure is from the mouth of the river to U.S. Highway 101 and includes all fishing.

Water levels are less than half of the river’s normal water level, and the water temperature is in the high 60s, which is a major stressor for the fish, Downen said.

The water level on the Big Quilcene dropped to 27 cubic feet per second Wednesday, equalling the previous record low set in 2009, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s water level monitor station.

Low water levels have created a crisis for the two main salmon species that spawn in the river, both of which need plenty of water to make their way upstream, Downen said.

“There is going to be a large number of fish and not a lot of water. They’re going to be spawning on top of each other,” he said.

A coho hatchery on the river is expecting 8,000 to 10,000 returning fish this summer, and the river is running very low for the big fish, which beat themselves up on the rocks trying to return to spawn, Downen said.

Downen also said the wild run of 4,000 to 6,000 endangered chum salmon, the second-largest salmon species behind the chinook, will be assisted by installing water ladders in some of the most critically shallow areas.

The Big Quilcene joins three other North Olympic Peninsula river systems where salmon seasons were cut short or canceled due to water levels.

Other closed rivers are:

■   Quillayute River system, from 5 miles above the mouth of the river, including the Sol Duc, the Bogachiel, the Calawah and the Dickey rivers, and their tributaries.

The closure border is marked in fluorescent paint on the banks of the Quillayute River, located 475 yards downstream from the confluence of the Sol Duc and Bogachiel rivers

■   Clearwater River and its tributaries were closed Aug. 10

■   Queets River and its tributaries were closed Aug. 10.

________

Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.