The Columbia River Reforms, we fought for them, we have given up smolts to benefit the commercial fleet, and we have paid for them out of our own pockets. Sadly, special interests aim to benefit commercial gilnetters, increasing their profits at the expense of jobs in our industry, conservation and the stakeholders who have been funding the reforms with license dollars and endorsement fees for several years.
What’s at stake:
The future of salmon fisheries and the health of our sportfishing industry depends on receiving a fair harvest allocation of salmon. The reforms were intended to create a more equitable share of impacts, and without them, gillnetters will continue to harvest more and more fish.
Sportfishers overwhelmingly fund the agencies and overwhelmingly bear the burden of recovering threatened stocks of salmon and steelhead. Ideally the WDFW Commission will keep their commitment to the reforms and use adaptive management only where necessary to keep their word.
When:
The Washington Commission is meeting this Saturday, January 14th, at the Heathman Hotel in Vancouver . It would be wise to get there before 10:00, as the subjects starts at 10:15.
NSIA, Steelheaders, Guides Associations and CCA members will all be there with a united message: Be equitable, and shift to 80/20. This will save jobs in our industry that are at risk, provide better protections to wild fish, and maintain public trust with WDFW at a time when they are in dire need of a fee increase. If you cannot join us, send a quick note to the Commission about how vital 80/20 is to your job, business, industry and the fish!
Remember the ODFW Commission meeting scheduled for Friday, January 20th in Salem
For those who want more information, we’ve created a folder on the NSIA web site. In it you will find a letter from 4 organizations to Governor Brown, a letter to the Commission from the authors of SB830, the Legislation that was passed enabling the reforms, A letter from Gov. John Kitzhaber debunking the gillnetters claims about economic viability and the intent of the plan, several letters from over 50 members of the WA Legislature to WDFW in support of the reforms, graphics showing harvest comparison and relative economic values from 2014 fisheries call or write if you need more.
You know how important this is to your business to finally have some equity in this fishery for sports anglers. Don’t make others speak for you!
4 Orgs Letter SB830LetterofConcern OLCV letter to Gov Brown-gillnets Letter to Oregon F&W Commission JK 2014 Relative values per fish-WDFW Multiplier Harvest graph_update 2016SenateLettertoWDFWreColumbiaBasinSalmonProject 2016WDFWLegislativeLetter 2017SenBilligWDFWLetter