WAC 220-33-070 sounds like bad news!

Sounds just like another way for WDFW to let the gill netters get around the ESA to me! If I was able to attend the up coming commission meeting this week end, I would tell them to vote this WAC down! After reading it, it appears that WDFW will not let the commercial gill net fishery on the Columbia River die. What's your read on this new proposed WAC?

To me, this proposed WAC will just open the door for the "director" to allow the commercials gill nets to fish in the sanctuaries, like the mouths Cowlitz, Lewis, Kalma and any other tributaries that are currently under protection. The last line of the WAC ((c) Specific recreational emphasis action) is nothing more then bait in a mouse trap in my mind! What' your read?

NEW SECTION
WAC 220-33-070 Limited participation commercial salmon fisheries -- Columbia River. (1) When the director determines that a harvestable amount of salmon is available, but that full-fleet fishing effort has an unacceptable risk of exceeding the available harvest or compromises other specific management objectives, the director in collaboration with the Oregon department of fish and wildlife (ODFW) director, working through the Columbia River compact, may authorize a limited participation fishery in the Columbia River in order to provide additional opportunities for commercial salmon fisheries where they might not otherwise exist. Such a fishery may be authorized for experimental or developmental fisheries, fisheries necessary to refine run size data, fisheries necessary to provide biological information, or in cases where:
(a) Other specific management objectives have been stated for the species and area in question; or
(b) Full-fleet participation with time, space, or gear restrictions cannot achieve the harvest goal.
(2) Only licensed commercial salmon fishers may participate in a limited participation fishery. Fishers who wish to have their name placed on the Columbia River limited participation register must notify the department's Region 5 office, in writing, by December 1 each year for the following year's fisheries. Interested fishers must provide a message phone number at which they can be contacted and indicate the fishing zone(s) (SMCRA 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E) in which they can participate.
(3) Each year the department will, from the list of interested fishers, use random selection to create a priority list by fishing zone (SMCRA 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E) in the Columbia River. Once the priority lists have been created, sale or transfer of the license shall invalidate the receiver from participation in that year's limited participation fishery.
(4) When a limited participation fishery is authorized, the department will contact fishers from the priority register at least twenty-four hours prior to the opening of the fishery. When a fisher cannot be contacted after reasonable effort, the department will select the next name, until the maximum number of allowable units of gear is reached. If not reached, the fisher's name will remain at the priority position, but the fisher may not participate in that limited participation fishery. Agreement to participate, or declining to participate, will remove the fisher from the priority position, and place the name at the bottom of the priority list.
(5) Fishers may be required to take on-board observers to collect biological information during the limited participation fishery.
(6) Examples of specific management objectives include, but are not limited to:
(a) Reducing levels of incidental catch of wild salmon stocks;
(b) Reducing incidental catch of nontarget salmon species originating from regions other than the fishing area; or
(c) Specific recreational emphasis action.