Commission defers action on planfor Columbia River catch sharing

Facing conflicting recommendations on allocations for the 2009 Columbia River spring salmon fishery, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission last Saturday deferred action to its January meeting.

Fish and Wildlife commissioners wanted more time for discussions with Oregon's commission.

The fish and wildlife commissions of the two states allocate season openings and catch allocations in a complicated process that considers impacts on endangered natural stocks and Native American treaty rights.

According to a recent Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) projection, nearly 300,000 spring chinook are expected to return to the Columbia River in 2009, which would make the run the third-highest on record.

The spring chinook fishery presents special challenges to fishery managers, both because the catch is highly prized by both sport and commercial fishers and because the run includes wild salmon listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), which tightly limits mortality rates for listed fish.

In the spring chinook fishery, harvest opportunities for hatchery-reared fish are based on keeping impact rates on ESA-listed fish within federal conservation limits.

The delay followed approval of a plan by the Oregon commission the previous day to provide more fishing opportunities for commercial fisheries than recommended by a bi-state panel created to develop a joint approach to the controversial catch-sharing issue.

Surprised by that action, Washington commissioners voted at Saturday's meeting to delay action on both spring and summer chinook allocation plans until their next public meeting, scheduled January 9-10 in Olympia.

To help develop consistent allocation policies, the fish and wildlife commissions of Washington and Oregon created the Columbia River Fish Working Group, a joint panel established by the commissions that includes three commission members, two fishery managers and citizen advisors from each state. Panel members included Wahkiakum County Commissioner George Trott and Skamokawa resident Irene Martin, who is active in the commercial industry.

Under the base allocation recommended by the Working Group, the sport fishery would be allowed 65 percent of the impacts on wild fish and the commercial fishery 35 percent. Those shares would vary depending on the run size for the upper Columbia and Willamette rivers.

"The fish and wildlife commissioners went off in a room on their own and came up with those numbers," Trott commented Tuesday. "That wasn't the recommendation of the whole group."

However, in a departure from that plan, the Oregon commission voted to allocate 55 percent to the sport fishery and 45 percent to the commercial fishery.

"The 45-55 impact allocation split is very reasonable," Martin commented. "The Washington commission is blatantly pro-sport. One commissioner was so angry that he asked WDFW staff to develop new numbers for the summer chinook allocation. There was no biological reason; it was just pure retaliation."

She added that the 14-month advisory committee process had become "a colossal waste of time and department money" because of the commission's favoritism for the sport fishery.

"The fact is that the individual sport fisher isn't represented on the committee," Trott said. "It is the urban based, commercial guides and the sports equipment dealers."

Other aspects of the plan recommended by the Working Group would provide:

* A 35 percent conservation buffer to minimize the risk of exceeding ESA limits on wild stocks.

* A sport fishery of at least 45 days in March and April on the lower Columbia, with additional days through May consistent with federal conservation limits.

Commissioner Dan Cothren, who attended the Saturday hearing, commented that he understood the sport fishery on the Columbia below Vancouver might be scheduled in late April and into May, once upper river areas had reached their escapement targets. A season at that time of year could work well for sport fishers, he said.

* Stable fisheries above Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River and lower Snake River with 25 percent of the sport fishery's allowable impacts on wild fish.

* A stable commercial fishery in off-channel "select areas" such as Deep River in Washington and Youngs Bay in Oregon.

* Some commercial fishing opportunities in the mainstem Columbia River in March and April if the run size permits. If impacts remain, harvest opportunities will be maximized in May.

Also testifying at the Saturday hearing was David Goodroe, executive director of the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council.