Please contact your legislator as soon as possible to 1) thank them if they are a co-sponsor of the below bills or if they are not 2) to urge them to vote in favor of these bills. Find Your legislator in Washington. Find your Legislator in Oregon.
Yesterday, in a powerful affirmation of the Columbia River harvest reforms passed by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2012, a bipartisan group of 24 Senators introduced SB 5617. SB 5617 requires an end to gillnetting by 2023, noting that in 1995, NOAA fisheries called for an end to non-treaty gillnetting in the Columbia by 2003. The Bill, which expands harvest reforms state wide, including Willapa Bay, Grays Harbor and Puget Sound, can be read below.
Oregon also had two similar bills introduced this week: SB 547, introduced by Senator Riley and OR SB 619 introduced by Senator Girod.
Please find below the text of Washington SB 5617:
WA SB 5617 text 2019