The Marine Resources Committee in Wahkiakum County has proposed the establishment of an experimental commercial fishery on the lower
Columbia River. The proposal, approved
unanimously by Wahkiakum’s MRC, is the first grassroots challenge to Oregon
Governor John Kitzhaber’s plan to ban commercial salmon fishing on the Columbia River’s main stem.
“Our aim is to articulate an
alternate approach to sound fisheries management in Wahkiakum County,”
says the MRC proposal.
“Commercial fishermen have driven economic growth in our
area for more than a century, sustained families and communities for several
generations and helped create a unique local culture. Their very existence is
now under threat – both from Columbia River management proposals emanating from
Oregon, and
from outside interests competing for access to valuable salmon and other fish.”
The MRC’s plan calls for the creation of an experimental
mixed-use fishery in the Cathlamet Channel, a 7-mile waterway separating Puget Island
and the Town of Cathlamet.
“Unlike terminal fisheries, select or SAFE areas – which
occupy bays, tributaries and sloughs off the main river – the Cathlamet Channel
fishery would have limited, well-regulated seasons for all hatchery species and
non-threatened native species passing through this area on their migrations up
the Columbia River,” the plan says.
The proposal, citing the lack of navigable tributaries
suitable for side-channel fisheries in Southwest
Washington, proposes experimental use of new technologies
developed in recent years with taxpayer money, which include tangle nets,
recovery boxes, reef nets and seines.
“We’ve spent $10 million in federal grant funds on this
stuff, and guess what? It works,” says longtime commercial fisherman and MRC
member Kent Martin. “But rather than use it, Governor Kitzhaber’s plan is to
drive us into mud puddles.”
The MRC believes the Kitzhaber proposal would do grave harm
to Wahkiakum’s traditional economy.
“Commercial fishing could be just like our local organic
farms – natural, safe and sustainable,” says Cathlamet mayor
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