Columbia Compact Report (unofficial)

[Pete]

Columbia River Compact Decision

The final decision will be officially announced later today by the WDFW/ODFW, but here is my version.

The sport season will be essentially the same as last year, with sports allocated 60% of the ESA impact.
Below I-5 the basic season is January 1 to May 15th.
Above I-5 to McNary the basic season is March 16th to May 15th.

2 adipose fin clipped adult salmon per day.

NEW: Effective February 16, "It is unlawful to totally remove from the water any salmon or steelhead required to be released."

New: Begining April 6th and continuing about a couple times a week, the joint ODFW/WDFW will have "checkpoints" to monitor progress towards adopted upriver spring chinook impact guidelines and modify the ongoing fishery to ensure maximum opportunity through April.

The modification options will occur in the following order (though it's possible some could happen concurrently if conditions require):
1) Reduce fishery gbetween the I-5 Bridge and Bonneville Dam to less than seven days per week.
2) Eliminate fishery between the I-5 Bridge and Bonneville Dam completely.
3) Reduce fishery below the I-5 Bridge to less then 7 days a week.
4) Eliminate fishery below the I-5 Bridge completely.
Objective: Manage the fishy above Bonneville Dam to Maintain opportunity fairness with fishery below the I-5 Bridge.

Highlights of the commercial fishery:
The Departments have instituted 4 measures to minimize impacts on listed fish (especially wild winter steelhead).
1) Test fisheries will begin on Sunday February 22nd to give a reading on the run timing and composition. Based on the outcome of those test fisheries, the season may begin on February 24th. When test fisheries or prior day's fishery indicate it is appropriate, the commercial fishermen can fish on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
2) Test fisheries will use tooth tangle nets to ensure a good read on steelhead numbers, but actual fisheries will use 9 inch nets which allow steelhead and small chinook to pass through. Nets are restricted to 150 fathom length, 45 minute soaks and shorter windows than last year and will be required to use resuscitation boxes.
3) Sanctuary in high concentration steelhead areas have been expanded.
4) The nets will be encouraged to use steelhead excluders.

This is NOT a formal announcement ... I will post the OFFICIAL announcement as soon as it is available.

The Departments made great efforts to provide a maximum season for sport fishers and to shape commercial seasons. The increased monitoring and reporting are significant improvements which should prevent surprises. Also, the "step-down" options for the sport fisher are layed out in advance, avoiding any surprise closures. We'll know how things are going through monitoring and we know what the management tools are which can help extend the season. The Departments put in a huge amount of work on this and deserve credit for working with their constituents to ensure the best possible seasons available under the restrictions of protecting stocks listed under the ESA.

[ 02-05-2004, 07:54 PM: Message edited by: Pete ]

[Canyon Man]

Awesome news Pete! I know we had a great turnout up here in Olympia and know you all worked really hard down there too. Maybe this will show people that when we unite we can make a significant difference.

[fishchaser]

Thanks Pete, How many people showed today in OC? Was it a good turnout? I wanted to be there but just couldn't get balanced enough to stay upright.

[Pete]

There were more than 100 people attending. That includes at least a dozen commercial fishermen. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the process. We have opened some doors and layed some groundwork that will pay dividends over time.

Next biggie is the "North of Falcon" process ... stay tuned!

[Bill Monroe]

I counted 102, not including those at the front tables and two staffers in the audience.
I'll try to explain more of this Sunday. I only had 12 inches to explain it all tomorrow.

[Slade]

For those who attended, I was wondering if there was any concrete indication that our e-mails worked. I wrote both of my legislators (Mitch Greenlick and Charlie Ringo) and they both clearly stated that they were going to get involved on the sport fisheries behalf. I was very happy with my legislators responses. I posted Mr. Greenlick's response already. Following is Sen. Ringo's. I am not trying to promote these guys (I voted for neither), but I really appreciate their responses and think they should be commended.

Dear Mr. Ball,

I’m writing to express my concern about the Columbia Spring Chinook allocation decision which would reduce sport fishing allocation over previous years.

I’m concerned about the economic and environmental impacts of these allocations. It’s estimated that this reduction to the sport fishing industry could potentially cost our state 5 million dollars in economic opportunity. In addition, sport fishers have a very low impact rate on the wild, ESA-listed fish, relative to the indiscriminate gill nets of the commercial fleet Studies indicate that nearly twice as many fish released from netters die as those released from sport fishers. The decision to increase commercial netter allocations sends the message that protecting wild salmon, listed under the Endangered Species Act, is not as important as protecting a fleet of less than 200 commercial fishermen.

When commercial fishermen inadvertently exceed their allocations, as in prior years, it unfairly forces an early closure to the sport fishing season. I encourage ODFW to set an impact buffer to prevent this potential inequity by requiring commercial netters to remove their nets once they reach 80% of their allocations and no later than March, 15, 2004. This buffer is critical to protecting the value of the sport fishery and protecting listed stocks of salmon and steelhead.

Thank you for your consideration

Very truly yours,
Charlie Ringo

[freespool]

Slade,I was there today and a real cool thing happened. Sen. Rick Metzger had one of his assistants testify on hehalf of the sportfishers,saying in essence that we should get a larger share of the fish. So yes, emails and letter writing to law makers does help,please keep up the effort. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]


salmon hugger

[Slade]

That is great to hear.

[RiverRogue]

Yes that was a positive thing. I was there as well but did not get a sense that we made much of an impact as no other mention was made. The announcement of Steve King's retirement though was thought by many to be very good news.