Rockfish Update ... read and learn

[Slow Roll]

Thank you Pilar!!

And thank you to all the others that attended this morning.

From the sound of it you made an impression on people who didn't even know that sportfishers really cared. Now we need to continue to be a voice in these affairs.

I will definitely be one who continues to support this effort and I hope others will join in to do what they can.

I really wanted to attend this morning but work was not permitting today. The August meeting is a definite go though.

Once again, thank you for your initiative on this. :cheers:

Paul B.

[Thumper]

Congratulations Pilar and others from Ifish. AGAIN you made a difference!!! Youse guys and gals are my heroes! Three cheers from us Washingtonians.

[ 07-12-2002, 01:29 PM: Message edited by: Thumper ]

[OceanBlue]

Talk about instant gratification! Wow! I'm still flying high!

I think one of my favorite parts of the meeting was when Chairman Esler told his staff to get on ifish. He was very animated when he told them that content from the meeting would be on ifish even before they (the commision) got to break for lunch :grin: He seemed rather amused when he said it.

The other part I enjoyed was when commisioner Marla Rae asked Chairman Esler what the process for appointing members to the DFB was. The history was explained and she seemed rather taken aback that it was all about commercial interests... She had more questions, but indicated she'd take them offline... Hmmm... I think something in the letter we handed them might have struck a chord?

So... we had several items we asked for... one was granted immediately. We may not get everything we want, and I certainly don't expect that anything will be as easy as that win was, but I AM pleased with the response that we received.

WAIT! Don't grab a beer and head back to the couch yet! There's more to be done.

Janice Green requested, and was granted, an open forum FOR RECREATIONAL FISHERS - August 6 in Newport. Don't forget the commisioners meeting in Corvallis on August 9. More information will be posted as soon as we have it. Don't let a few of us represent all of you... If we all pitch in, we can have adequate representation at all of the meetings.

Thanks to all who've been so supportive. I know many of you wanted to be there today, but could not. You'll have other opportunities and I hope you will continue to give this your attention!

[black magic]

To all of you groundfishers,
The recreational fishing people who spoke at todays ODFW Commisioners meeting did an exellent job. They were articulate and presented in a professional manner. This all took an enormous amount of work and commitment. The commisioners appeared to appreciate their input. Thanks to all who took the time to attend.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Let me tell you, that was a tough crowd.

I am delighted that we will have representation for sport fishers on the governing bodies.

I am encouraged that they are open to holding meetings at night or after normal business hours to gather more input from those of us who have to work during the day.

I believe that the commission is aware that there is a disproportion in the quota and that they may work towards rectifying it.

The group working on the plan is considering opportunities for sport fishing even if areas are closed too and that is encouraging.

Most of all I am pleased that they know that we are not going to stand idly by to watch as this resource is devastated.

We need to work together to insure that the momentum on this rolling ball continues.

Thanks to everyone who attended AND TO THOSE OF YOU WHO WILL ATTEND.

Mr. F, out…

[AngleThis]

To Pilar and the rest who have tried to make a difference, GOOD JOB, guys. I hope when the decisions finally come down, your efforts will pay off.

[Threemuch]

I got the impression that outside of a few regulars, the RFA reps and Oregon Angler Rep, we were the first recreational anglers without a commercial interest (i.e. charterboat fishing) to show up at a meeting like this. The commision seemed genuinely suprised to see us.

It was awesome to have 6 people go up and testify in the same manner with the same views. It would be even more impressive with 60.

KB

[Point-of-Sale Clerk]

Impressive job, and a great start.

Thanks for getting involved

*** Clerk
:grin:

[Paddlefish]

Thanks, guys (and gals :rolleyes: )

Articulate? United? Awesome stuff.
Every now and then, it can work the way it's supposed to.

Please read the last part of Threemuch's post.

Oops. Got me. :blush:

Thanks again, from all the rest of us.

[OceanBlue]

Yup... 60 ... or 600... wouldn't it be great if the next speaker got up and said, "I'd like to introduce you to a small representation of the saltwater sport fishing community" And 600 people stood up?! Wow! What an impact that would make!

The best news of all is that the ODFW is concerned. They want to do the right thing. And the fact that they are willing to work with us, listen to us and protect the resource for all is just plain wonderful.

I believe our next step is to try and move away from the "us vs. them" mentality where the ODFW is concerned. I know it is hard and probably very unpopular, but this also applies to commercial fishers... after all, they have a vested interest in protecting the resource, too...

As Pilar would say, "I'll get down off the hood of the truck now"... sorry... I'm still flying!

[corrirod]

You guys ROCK! Sorry I wasn't there but perhaps the next meeting!

The he!! with the Developmental Fisheries Board..........Pilar for President!

[wak'm&stak'm]

Thank You......

[Jennie@ifish]

YAY! Way to go, you guys!!!
:smile:
Jen

[bigshark]

The very lacking performace of the show that followed didn't hurt the cause either. The last testimony reguarding the live fishery was the icing on the cake. :hoboy:
Pilar......I asked for feedback from an ODFW employee at the lunchbreak.The best I could read the response was that the commission doesn't have authority but better get some quickly. If I read it right, it was positive.

[Fishplay]

SLAM DUNK!!!!
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
It was obvious the sportfishing representation made quite an impression on the commision today. And in turn they made quite an impression on me. Very encouraging is how I would sum up the meeting today. I was impressed by nearly the entire panel which showed genuine intrest and concerne about the state of our beloved Big Blue and our veiwpoint.
I would like to thank all in attendance for their support today. I know first hand the sacrifices that must be made to attend these meetings. Some used personal days that I'm sure they would rather have spent on the water and myself "like Mr. Fisherman" worked a night shift and then lost those critical early morning hours when it was actually cool enough to sleep. If you want to go bottomfishing on the Oregon coast any time within the next 200 years it's a necessary inconvenience.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to all of you who have sent letters to commissioners and representatives. graemlins/hearton.gif

I would like to call to arms all of you!!! Please inlist in the fight and support this cause. While it appears we made good ground today......I beleive we need a very strong showing for those with the votes to continue to take notice and follow through with favorable policy.
August 6th and 9th are very important dates. Please make a commitment to attend by making the neccesary arriangements now to insure your availability.
Even those of you who don't fish in open waters should unite now. I assure you there will come a time when the policy on the table affects your way of life and when it does I know of a group of fellow sportsmen/ sportswomen you will be able to count on to be both seen and heard.
Thank you
Greg M.

[Point-of-Sale Clerk]

Pilar’s Mate

I must say I enjoyed your description of Chairman Eslers comments indicating that staff should get on Ifish. If you access the following link and under line 8 of top 10 sites by Kbytes you will see that they have been on for a while… :grin:

http://www.ifish.net/logs/usage_200205.html

(proxie.dfw.state.or.us) graemlins/program.gif

*** Clerk

[Mr. Fisherman]

Hmmmmm.......

[Capt. Rich]

Pilar is way to modest. His testimony was the best. Frank, honest and to the point. When Commissioner Marla Rae turned to Chairman Esler and asked about how the Developmental Fisheries Board (DFB) was constituted, I knew that there was a hope that sport fishers would have a chance of getting some input in the nearshore process.

Some thoughts. One is that fisheries scientists have always used landing data as the way to predict fish populations. If the landings go down then there must be a problem. Usually this results in overfishing and stock collapse because it is a season or two before a decision is made to close the fishery. With anadromous fish the solution was to pump up the hatcheries to make up for the low stocks. But with long lived rockfish and the lengthy period before they become fecund, transfering the anadromous fisheries stock management to rockfish could result in near total collapse. There are no hatcheries for rockfish. If a sport rep is appointed to the DFB, one constructive thing to push for would be to develop a good stock assessment model for rockfish. There is new rockfish data that has been developed since the groundfish dilemma became page one on the news. There has to be a better way to predict stock abundance other than strictly using landing data. It was clear that the staff still uses landing data as a surrogate for stock abundance as they had landing data for the last three years as one of the handouts.

Another thing that was alluded to by the presenters was the economic power that sport fishers have. There are only 105 live rockfish commercial fishermen. Sportfishers need to impress on the staff and commission that nearshore sportfishing for rockfish is of value to the State of Oregon. We need to develop accurate data to prove that sportfishing is as valuable as the commercial fishing. It is easy to quantify commercial economic value but very difficult to prove that sport fishermen spend as much.

As Pilar and the other posters said, the meetings on August 6th in Newport and the ODFW commission meeting in Corvallis on August 9th are crucial if sport fishers are going to be heard on the development of a nearshore plan. It was nice to see the group that turned out for the ODFW meeting in Portland but there needs to be more people at the August meetings.

[Pilar]

I had the pleasure of attending the ODFW commision meeting this morning with a handful of RFA and Ifish members.

Many thanks to all who have been involved and those who came to the soiree today. Besides the speakers listed below Pilar's Mate, Hawgjaw, Black Magic and Fishplay all sat in on the meeting.

All of you who attended, please give us your impressions of what happened and your outlook.

We sat through a directors review of topics facing the commision and that was our in for giving testimony. If the issue you want to address is on the directors review you can sign up and get 5 minutes to say your piece when it ends.

Several speakers had a turn including Janice Green (RFA Oregon director and PFMC member), Phil Leshowitz(Washington director RFA), Richard Oba (charterboat operator), Dennis Richey (Oregon Anglers), Ray Taber ( Mr. Fisherman), John Wells (Pilar), Kurt Bergner (Threemuch). We delivered a consistent message that can be paraphrased as follows.

1) Sportfishers want to be involved in the decision making process.
2) Nearshore fisheries must be protected from a shift in effort by commercial boats locked out of the 100 to 250 fathom waters off our coast.
3) Live fish commercials should be restricted to non destructive hook and line methods.
4) ODFW must improve the information that decisions are based on.

Now for the good news. The commision was very receptive and to some degree surprised by our first stab at involvement. Our efforts today were rewarded by some immediate gratification.

The new program manager of the Marine Resources program met with us briefly after the first adjournment. Patricia Burke told the group that we should think about nominating a sportfishing representative for the Developmental Fisheries Board. That she and the commision were interested in the input of the sportfishing community. This will most likely be an advisory position but it is a significant start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To all of you armchair naysayers I say Booya!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also I encouraged the commision to use the resources available to access you the sportfishers on Ifish. Look for posts regarding pending rules, requests for opinions from sportfishers and more.

I can't tell you how high I feel after this initial success. I can only hope that some of you faithful readers will pick up the sword that has been thrown down and help us fight the battles to come.

A special thanks goes to Bill Monroe of the Oregonian who introduced himself and took notes during the proceedings. He may have something to say about this whole affair in the near future in the Oregonian sports (fishing) section.

Peace, Pilar out.

[ 07-16-2002, 07:35 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Straydog]

Great job folks! :grin:

Thanks for doing what you can do....

***, you continue to amaze with your abilty to find the things you find..... :grin:

[Pitch Pocket]

Congratulations are due. Nice job!

If the commission is going to be monitoring ifish, we should make it easy for them to review the issues without having to slog through every thread to find them.

Why not start a ODFW heading and put the threads pertaining to sport fishers ideas and concerns in there. Lets give them a direct line to the ifish house.

[OceanBlue]

***: Who are you really???

I want to mention that much appreciation must be given to Mark Mc, Slow Roll, Janice, the RFA and Oregon Anglers for providing a TON of source data & links to data to back up the cause. Great stuff!

I know that Mark Mc and Slow Roll really wanted to be there on the 12th, but the great info they provided helped prep the speakers and made what they said all that much more credible! Great way to contribute to the cause.

Great big thanks and hugs to Jennie for posting alerts and supporting the efforts. I know she has a lot on her plate and the attention is much appreciated!

To those of you who wrote letters to representatives and/or commissioners, a great big thanks! Don't be shy... let everyone know who you are and provide samples of your letters as well as any responses you've received.

[Point-of-Sale Clerk]

:grin: :grin: :grin:

[OceanBlue]

Hmmm... well, I guess that speaks volumes... hey, ***... if you're not busy tonight, come on over to the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse... it is the Hillsboro roll call... Lots of us will be there...

[BUGLEMAN]

Where is the meeting in Newport on the 6th. I am helping to get the word out to local fishermen in Newport. Hopefully we can blow the doors off the place.

[Fish Hunter]

Ray Taber ( Mr. Fisherman) :cool: , John Wells (Pilar) :cool: , Kurt Bergner (Threemuch) :cool: .

Hawgjaw, Black Magic and Fishplay :cool:

Thanks to all that attended!

[blubeast]

Thank you Pilar (and others) for leading the charge at the meeting Friday. I'd be willing to attend the 8/6 meeting in Newport. Was there a time & place set?

Thanks again for all of your efforts!

[OceanBlue]

August 6, 10am

Location
Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center in the South Beach Section of Newport, Oregon.

From the South:

Take Highway 101 North. Turn right just before the Yaquina Bay Bridge and follow the signs to HMSC. ODFW will be the first building on your right just before the main road curves into the HMSC Visitors Center Parking lot.

From the North:

Take Highway 101 South. Cross the Yaquina Bay Bridge and take the first right and proceed under the bridge. Follow the signs to HMSC. ODFW will be the first building on your right just before the main road curves into the HMSC Visitors Center Parking lot.

From the East:

Take Highway 20 west to the junction of Highway 101. Turn left on Highway 101 South. Cross the Yaquina Bay Bridge and take the first right and proceed under the bridge. Follow the signs to HMSC. ODFW will be the first building on your right just before the main road curves into the HMSC Visitors Center Parking lot.

[CATCH AND EAT]

THANK YOU ALL THAT ATTENDED ON OUR BEHALF!!!!! YES I AM SHOUTING!!!!! :cheers: :cheers: :cool: You folks are the truly committed and it is appreciated. Hey, and I have never ever caught or fished for a rockfish on the Oregon Coast and I still appreciate it.

Folks like you are few and far between. Glad you are on i-fish. Just shows that we have a lot of quality people that know how to think for themselves. graemlins/hearton.gif graemlins/hearton.gif :cool:

I will try to make the meeting on the sixth but I know I cannot make the 12th.

[OceanBlue]

Catch,
Good to hear your kind words & support. Hope you can make it to the meeting on the 6th in Newport. The other one is the commissioners meeting on the 9th in Corvallis.

Hope to see you at one of them. :wink: