Following the meeting
the group joined a rally of about 40 gillnetters and supporters on the steps of
the Oregon capital in a show of support for the industry.
Clatsop County
commissioners oppose a plan of Kitzhaber’s introduced last August to ban gillnet
fishing on the main stem of the Columbia and restrict it to off-channel areas.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, together with its Washington State
counterpart, were tasked with developing rules to implement the proposal. The
Oregon commission meets Friday, Dec. 7 in Portland to take up the draft rules;
the Washington panel considers a companion set of rules at a meeting Dec. 14-15
in Olympia.
Lee and Rohne were
joined by Fishhawk Fisheries owner Steve Fick, Jim Wells, president of Salmon
For All commercial fishing advocacy group, and lobbyist Jim Marquis. Clatsop
County Natural Resources Manager Steve Meshke also joined the group. They laid
out for Kitzhaber their objections to his plan, which they contend would drive
many commercial fishermen out of business without helping conserve protected
Columbia River salmon runs.
The participants said
Kitzhaber heard their arguments, but did not back down from his determination to
move gillnets off the Columbia main stem.
“The Columbia River
belongs to everyone, and the fish in it are a shared public resource that
belongs to everyone,” Rohne told the rally, echoing statements he made to the
governor. “Everyone should have the same right to enjoy Columbia River salmon,
and that is a service the gillnetters provide for all of us.”
Lee said that the
state’s review of its Territorial Sea Plan has been ongoing for four years and
has still drawn complaints that it is rushed, while the gillnet proposal is due
to be acted on after only four months.
The rules would be
phased in by 2016. Gillnetters would be limited to off-channel fishing;
commercial fishing would be allowed in the main stem with certain alternative
gear such as seine nets.
Gillnetters and their
supporters argue that more than half of the commercial Columbia River salmon
harvest currently comes from the main stem, and that existing off-channel
fishing areas cannot accommodate all Columbia River gillnetters. They also note
that seine nets are currently illegal.
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