Council discusses move, resolution supporting gillnetters

Members of the Cathlamet Town Council had a quick and easy meeting Monday.

Three of four different presenters in the new business section of the agenda were unable to come to the meeting.

Councilmembers discussed the pending move of town offices from the Scarborough Building on Main Street to a building on the town's old sewer lagoon property.

The Cathlamet Fire Department has used the building for storage, and it will need some remodeling, including addition of a restroom, to accommodate the town offices.

Councilmember David Goodroe suggested the project needed a manager.

"Projects like this that don't have clear leadership are doomed to failure," he said.

The council discussed the suggestion briefly, and Mayor Dale Jacobson suggested Goodroe assume that role.

"I'd be happy to do that," Goodroe said. "It needs to be pulled together because we're running out of time."

The town's Scarborough lease expires at the end of February, and officials would like to start the move in January.

In other business, the council supported a suggestion from Skamokawa gillnetter Kent Martin to lobby Governor Jay Inslee and local state representatives to give more support to the commercial fishing industry.

Martin said the industry contributes over $1 million annually to Wahkiakum County's economy, and state fishery management policies are adversely impacting the industry by restricting commercial fishing opportunities and expanding recreational fishery allocations.

That's inefficient resource management, Martin said. This year, 400,000 salmon passed McNary Dam; recreational fishers caught only 2,800 of them. The escapement goal for sustaining the run was 60,000 fish.

"I don't know where it will end but there will be massive cuts in hatchery production if the fish aren't harvested," he said.

Councilmember Goodroe commented that when he formerly served as executive director of the defunct Lower Columbia Economic Development Council, he calculated that commercial fishing made up 10 percent of the county's economy.

Councilmembers agreed to write a resolution to send to the state officials to urge support of the commercial fishing industry.