States consider next moves for gillnetting

In its meeting, December 2, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to extend the transition period through 2017 to implement the Columbia River Fisheries Reform aimed at removing gillnetters from the lower Columbia River mainstem.

The extension will allow further consideration by commission members and consultation with management partners. The commission will consider the reform policy again, including actions for 2017 fisheries and beyond, at their Jan. 20 meeting in Salem.

Meanwhile, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will invite public comments on proposed options for implementing the state's reform policy on Columbia River salmon management during a meeting scheduled this Friday and Saturday in Olympia.

Also known as the Kitzhaber Plan, the Columbia River reform policy, adopted by the commission in 2013, outlines a joint strategy by Washington and Oregon to restructure recreational and commercial salmon fisheries below Bonneville Dam. With the next phase of that plan set to take effect in 2017, state fishery managers will outline possible options for shaping the course of the reform effort in the years ahead.

The harvest reform is in its final year of transition and was to become fully effective January 1, 2017 when all Columbia River mainstem fishing would be allocated to recreational anglers and commercial gillnetters would fish in off-channel select areas, mostly in the lower river and mostly for hatchery chinook and coho salmon.

The extension by the Oregon commission would ensure post-transition rules do not go into effect until potential adaptive management is considered at the January meeting, The change is a result of discussion at the commission’s November 9 meeting when it became apparent a deferral was needed to allow more time for additional staff analyses and more time for additional coordination with the State of Washington “to provide orderly and concurrent policies” according to Oregon Administrative Rules.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission met in a special teleconference last week to discuss with WDFW staff Washington’s next steps on the reform policies. The staff laid out options for each run of chinook – spring, summer and fall – ultimately getting the commissioners’ approval to publish the options for public input. The Washington commission has yet to decide when rulemaking would occur.

Although recreational fisheries for spring chinook salmon are open in January downstream of the I-5 bridge as it crosses the Columbia River at Portland, the Oregon commission said that angling effort and catch is so low as to be unaffected by the allocation differences.

One of the sticking points with both the Oregon and Washington commissions and their fish and wildlife staffs is that the reform also promised to keep gillnetters economically whole, but the actual plan implementation is lagging in hatchery production of smolts, identifying additional off-channel areas, and developing alternative gear that would allow commercial fishers to better target hatchery fish, among other issues.

At the Oregon commission’s November meeting, with as many as 150 sport and commercial fishers looking on, ODFW staff proposed to rebalance the harvest reform rules by continuing to allow some gillnetting on the mainstem river and by targeting for harvest of more adult hatchery salmon in the lower river below Bonneville Dam, a conservation move to rid the river of more hatchery fall chinook. As a concession, recreational anglers would gain access to Youngs Bay, near Astoria, an area that has been considered off-limits to them and would be allowed to use barbed hooks in the Willamette River.

At the same time, Oregon Governor Kate Brown nominated Jim Biddle, owner of Willie Boats, Inc. in Central Point, Oregon, to the commission. Biddle, a supporter of recreational angling, would replace Commissioner Jason Atkinson of Jacksonville. Atkinson’s term on the commission ends in 2019, but he has asked to be replaced.

Last year, Bruce Buckmaster, a commercial fishing proponent from Astoria, was appointed to the commission.

The Oregon Senate will consider Biddle’s appointment December 12. That appointment could alter the final vote by the commission when it considers adoption of the full fishery reform or a form of rebalance.

The Columbia River Fish Management and Reform was a joint Oregon and Washington policy initially adopted in 2012 and readopted in 2013.

Wahkiakum County Eagle staff also contributed to this report.