Springer Allocation Decisions--Very Important

[POS Clerk]

DIRECTIONS TO THE MEETING
To: Sport Anglers and Sportfishing Business
From: Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association
Subj: Columbia River Spring Chinook Allocation between sport and gillnet fisheries
Proposed increase in steelhead by-catch by gillnet fisheries

The Oregon and Washington Fish & Wildlife Commissions will be considering a multiple year allocation agreement between sport fishing and commercial gillnetting for Columbia River Spring Chinook. The Commissions will also re-consider an increase in the number of steelhead by-catch allowed in the gillnet fishery. You need to weigh in! The Commissions will make their decisions right in front of you. It really matters that you show up.

The Oregon Commission will meet on Friday, January 6, 2006 at the Salem ODFW headquarters beginning at 8:00 a.m. More info: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/commission/minutes/

The Washington Commission will meet either Friday January 13th or Saturday, January 14, 2005 at the Olympia WDFW headquarters. More to follow!

It is imperative that the sport fishing public be in attendance. Please attend these meetings and come prepared to make your voice heard. Be sure to wear a sport fishing logo on your hat, shirt, coat, etc…….

We know that some of you will be out of town on January 6th or the following week with boat shows, and may miss the Commission meetings. If you cannot attend, write a quick note TODAY to the Commission(s) and tell them why this decision is so very critical to you and/or your business.

Write to each Commission (it’s only two e-mail addresses) and tell them why Columbia River Spring Chinook is the “bell cow” of all fisheries! tina.edwards@state.or.us, commission@dfw.wa.gov will deliver your testimony to each and every Commissioner. Do it today! As always, start with you are and why this is important to you. Stay polite, professional and most of all, pro sportfishing.

Your State (not Federal) legislator needs to hear about this too! Help finding them? Call us.

If you have questions, please contact the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association office at 503.631.8859.

Key Messages:

The first priority for the Commission is conservation. The practice of using tangle nets in the middle of the spring Chinook run, before the run size update, and while wild winter steelhead are in the river is risking a significant biological impact. With declining runs and shortened sport fishing seasons, it is time for a management change to better protect both spring Chinook and steelhead.

Sport fishing creates important economic activity for communities along the Columbia River. Tourism is flourishing along the Columbia River, yet the sport fisheries have yet to reach their potential. Consistent, fully prosecuted sport fishing seasons will position Oregon as a national destination for salmon and steelhead fishing. In fact, the allocation agreement of the past two years, combined with declining runs, has hurt Oregon’s reputation as a destination for out-of-state visitors. We must plan for the future and anticipate growth in sport fishing demand.

The current allocation agreement is inequitably split between 70,000 sport anglers and approximately 175 gill net boats. Oregon ocean, gillnet and tribal commercial fisheries catch more salmon than all of Oregon’s sport anglers combined. A relatively small shift in Columbia River allocations could stabilize sport fishing and, in fact, it is the only place where the Commission’s authority can make a difference.

Current allocation agreements in Oregon are not equitable. Non-tribal commercial fishers, numbering less than 2000 active participants, harvest 61% of Oregon’s harvestable salmon. Oregon’s sport community, composed of 255,000, salmon/steelhead tag holders are allowed a paltry 39%. Whether judged by participation, fees to ODFW, economic contribution, or employment, this is not fair. The Columbia River is the only venue where this lack of equitability can be addressed. Its inland waters, accessible by bank and small boat alike, are pivotal to the success of sport fisheries.

No restaurant will go without high quality fish because of non-treaty Columbia River allocations. Beyond Oregon’s ocean and treaty commercial fisheries, Alaskan and Canadian fisheries support seafood supply. An abundant supply of commercial salmon is readily available while sport fishing opportunity for thousands of Oregonians is going unmet.

The state’s financial investment in terminal area fisheries have been squandered as valuable ESA impacts have been used up by gillnetting in the main-stem Columbia. Close the main-stem gillnet fishing when low runs are forecasted to protect the state investment in terminal area fisheries.

Protect the economic base of the Oregon Dept of Fish & Wildlife by maximizing sport fishing opportunity. The agency’s conservation mission is funded primarily by license dollars. To continue important research and biological programs, we must work together to sell as much fishing opportunity as possible.

[boater]

98 percent of the sportfisherman are to lazy to go

[POS Clerk]

I applied for that day off and got it…

I will be there…

Will You?
:whazzup: :grin:

[David Johnson]

I'm planning on it!

[Kevin Newell]

I will be there.

Boater, you may be right... but if we even go that 2 percent, then we would be making an awefully strong showing!

[garyk]

It all comes down to these next meetings.

The Commissioners were not at the Vancouver and Cathlamet meetings. Now's the opportunity for you to be heard.

I'm planning on being there.

Might have open-seats too.

Let's try to make sure that everyone who wants to go, can get a ride!

[David Johnson]

I would like to car pool. Meet @ Oregon City Fisherman's?

[BARCHASER]

Ill be at the WDFW meeting. I sent both ODFW and WDFW an email as follows. It's emotional and a little whiney but its the way I feel.



I understand there are meetings planned to determine an allocation of Columbia River salmon and steelhead runs between commercial and sports fisheries.

I live in Bothell, WA and I'm 62 years old. I'm just an average retired guy who enjoys fishing for salmon and steelhead but the sport is deteriorating. The fishing around Seattle is poor and one of the few bright spots left is the Columbia River.

I emplore you to be generous to the sport fishers. More and more people are retiring. For retired folks who enjoy boating, fishing and the outdoors there is less and less to do. My wife wants to retire in Arizona. But I continue to want to live in the northwest because of the outdoors and fishing. But it's getting to the point where I'm about to just give in and move. I know other guys who retired and moved to sunny climates. Part of the reason they left is there is just not that much to do here. If you are going to spend all your time playing golf you may as well do it where its warm!

Sports fishing adds far more economic benefits than commercial fishing. You people in government have an obligation to provide the most recreational benefits you can. I just spent 23,000 on a new North River boat that is made in Roseburg Oregon. I'm beginning to think that was a mistake. The commercials are highly organized and aggressive. But they represent a very small group of people. It is your responsibility to provide for the population at large even though poorly organized and quiet.

[SalmonSeason]

ttt

[RiverMan]

It's great you guys are trying to get some folks interested. Seems kind of odd doesn't it that we even have to ask for this? As always, a very few end up enjoying the "lion's share" of the harvest.

I hope too for us "upriver" guys (above Bonn) they give us some kind of a season. For the last several years they have closed the springer season before we even get to fish for them! That is wrong and unfair!

RM

[freespool]

I would like to car pool. Meet @ Oregon City Fisherman's?

That's a great idea David
I'll have room for 3 riders.
We need to show up in mass, and let these decision makers know how we feel.
Be sure to wear your lucky fishing hat or shirt. Boat logos are also good. We need to stand out as sportfishers. You do not have to speak, just show up.



salmon hugger

[David Johnson]

I'll take one of your seats Barney. What time, 6 a.m.?

[Fish Hunter]

Got my emails out to the commissioners yesterday. At this point I won't be able to be in Salem Friday. Kudos to those that can.

[freespool]

Meeting starts at 08:00, how about 06:30 in the Fisherman's Marine parking lot?
Looking for the back seats, I might be able to take 5.



salmon hugger

[thumbar]

i'd love a ride if i can get one. and if you don't mind i'd like to bring my daughter, kind of a generational thing, this next few years will impact her future fishing as well!

[RiverMan]

I wrote a letter to the two addresses listed above. I also sent the same letter to the fish management folks for each agency. And finally, I sent a copy of the letter to the governor of each state. I won't be able to make the meeting guys, this is the best I can do....thank you to all those who plan on attending!

RM

[finclipped]

My letters are sent. I wonder if I will get a response?

"Dear Tina:

I am unable to attend the sports/commercial spring Chinook allocation this Friday January 6th and was hoping that my email could be forwarded to the Commissioners.

My name is Kevin Mellor, and I have lived in both Oregon and Washington my entire life. I am an avid sports angler and try to get in as many fishing trips a year as I can. I own a aluminum fishing boat I bought in 2003 (my pride and joy), when the prospects for sports fishing were fantastic. I knew it would only be a matter of time before things changed and based on ODFW projections, that time has come. I understand fish runs ebb and flood with time.

I am sincerely thankful for efforts and hard work of the ODFW and WDFW to move towards mass marking hatchery fish. Without that, I would even have fewer days a year to fish. Since my interest is in fishing (particularly Salmon) I have tried to educate myself on the issue with respects to fish run projections, allocation, mortality and other things that effect whether I am on the river or not. Learning about the allocation process was most troubling for me.

Being a passive recreational fisher, like many of my friends, I had no idea how the Columbia River was managed. I only knew that when there were lots of fish, I could fish and when it was closed there were not enough fish. I look back and realize how easy it would be to come to this simple conclusion without the facts. I believe the vast majority of sports-anglers, believe this as they are not familiar with allocation, tribal responsibilities, ESA and other things that go into managing the Columbia.

At the core of the issue is a lack of fish, but if history has taught us anything, it is that if you have a valuable resource it will be exploited until depleted. Thus we must control our harvest of salmon. I know increasing runs over the past couple years have lead to an explosion in fishing effort and catch. Humans have the capacity to catch them all, but I agree a balance must be reached. I most want the populations of Salmon to perpetuate themselves, so that 500 years from now, there will still be salmon spawning in the rivers and streams of the NW.

I think balance is important, and that is why I was inclined to write this email. The history of fish allocation dating back to the 1880's up through the 1930's is driving current decisions made by the commission. The Columbia and its fishery's have done nothing if not evolved from the first time a person took a fish out of the Columbia to sale. Fish Weirs, fish wheels, seine nets, salmon trollers and gill nets all lead to intense if not violent wars between the different fish parties. Eventually the gill nets won out on the Columbia, but not until the salmon were depleted, the damns built and sports fishing came along. Everyone pointed the finger at someone else until the salmon were gone. A process that has continued today and will likely if not for certain continue into the future.

As far as allocation goes, that is where I simply can't understand why we follow our past? I am put on equal footing with 70,000 other sports-anglers and asked to participate in a pool of harvest-able fish, that is of equal size to 170 commercial gill netters. That is not fair and equitable. I understand that there should be access to fish for non fishers, but the sources of fish in the supermarket to the general public are unlimited. Far more salmon are harvested through other commercial fishery's and ultimately supply all the needs of the non fishing public. I am not opposed to Columbia River commercial harvest and believe commercial fishery has a place, but only after we secure a full season for the 70,000 sports-anglers that are on equal footing as myself. My friends and I are passionate about our sport and can fish an entire spring for 1 fish (limited to weekends.) Keeping the Columbia open allows this group of 70,000 anglers access to our passion. The only way to do this is allocate a higher percentage of the mortality (in lean years) to the sports-anglers. A little more can do a lot of good for the economy, give stability to the large contingent of guides that rely on fishing, and gives an unmeasurable sense of anticipation, comrodary, accomplishment, and pride to anyone who purchases a license.

Thank you for your time."

[Jacks or Better]

Letter sent.

[Yogi]

Wrote the Commissioners already myself. We must fight together and be heard. Our livelihoods and pastimes are at risk. Common sense does not prevail as we saw this last year. We must fight the "political" battle.

[Fourteen]

I have sent my letters to the commissioners . How many other people on this board have done the same . It only takes a couple of minutes .

[David Johnson]

There's somethin like 130 gillnetters, it sure would be nice to get two or three times that many sportsfishermen to write letters or show at the meeting.

[BARCHASER]

I sent an email to both OR and WA. A letter might have more impact though.

[PapaHog]

emails sent and will try and attend on Friday.

I have a prior appointment with the heart doctor that I should probably go to. However I will try and change that appointment on Tuesday morning.

papa

[Steelie Chaser]

I also have an appointment on Friday that I'm trying to move. I'm going to send letters regardless. Does anyone here have an idea of what topics will resonate best with the Oregon and Washington commissions? I'm considering making the points below, and any feedback is appreciated. (I hate to telegraph my position here, but I assume this is all going to be public in a couple of days so it doesn't matter).

These will be more fleshed out in my letter:

1. Sport fisherman generate money for local economies - more sport fishing means more money.
2. Sport fishing is less impactful to the fishery than is commercial gilnetting.
3. Commmercials seem to think they have a birthright for allocations - no such right exists.
4. Commercials seem to want a larger allocation because fishing is not currently profitable. The best economic decision is to reduce commercial allocations to reduce supply to meet current demand, which will drive up prices.
5. I'd like the commission to take a hard look at gilnetting vs. other methods of commercial fishing that are less harmful to the fishery.

[Fish Hawk Adventures]

I will have lots of room in my Crew Cab if any one wants to ride with me. I will be leaving from Scappoose and can stop and pick up at Fisherman's at Delta Park if you are interested.
Joe
503-349-1411
Fish Hawk Adventures

[Gun Rod Bow]

I'll be there, but need to drive myself. Have to scout geese on the way home.