Columbia Sport Sturgeon Hearing - Rescheduled

[Pete]

Rescheduled public hearing focuses on legal-size
Columbia River sport sturgeon fishery


A public hearing on the 2004 sport season for legal-size Columbia River sturgeon has been rescheduled to Jan. 15, after an earlier scheduled hearing was cancelled due to recent inclement weather.

The hearing, hosted by the Washington and Oregon departments of fish and wildlife, will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Southwest Washington regional office at 2108 Grand Boulevard in Vancouver.

[Pete]

At the commission meeting today:

Commission hears research results on oversize sturgeon fishery

In preparation for consideration of regulation changes at their February meeting, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission heard a
briefing on recent research results on the oversize sturgeon catch-and-release fishery in the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam.

Research by Oregon State University and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife shows that about 2,000 fish of reproductive age are reside in the area below Bonneville Dam. These fish exhibit stress when caught, and many have hook scars or hooks in their bodies or other evidence of being caught multiple times. However, many questions exist as to whether the oversize fishery is directly affecting the breeding population.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing to expand a 4.5 mile spring-time sturgeon angling boat closure from Beacon Rock to
Bonneville Dam to an 8 mile closure from Skamania Island to Bonneville Dam. The closure, May through mid-July, protects fish in their spawning
area. The Washington proposal also calls for expanding the boat closure through the end of July. The Oregon fish and wildlife staff is
considering the Washington proposals and others to reduce catch numbers and to improve survival of oversized fish that are caught and released.

A catch-and-release boat fishery targeting protected oversize white sturgeon first developed in 1992 from May to July in the Columbia River
gorge. The fishery increased through 1995 and has since remained fairly stable. Between 2,800 and 5,300 adult sturgeon are caught and released
annually during the fishery. Oversized sturgeon are longer than 60 inches and some weigh more than 300 pounds.

Current research is focusing on the status of the adult spawning population and the implications of the catch-and-release fishery targetting the large fish. White sturgeon do not begin reproducing until they exceed 60 inches, which takes about 20 years. They can live to be
older than 100 years.

Information and Education Division
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
(503) 947-6002

[TheRogue]

Pete, do you know if the research looked at the Bonny bank fishery? It seems if this was such an important thing to close the area to boats, the bankies targeting the oversize fish should be affected also.

Suppose I should direct this question to STG...

TR