Todd -

It's coffee this morning, thinking about the other aspect of the letter that has been overlooked. In paragraph two the senator reminds the commission that they are legislatively directed to treat commercial fishermen and sports fishermen in a balanced manner. That is true and probably difficult to change. It is notable though that it says commercial fishermen, not gillnetters.

IMO there are two approaches to achieve a balanced treatment. Both would require an agreement with Oregon, a sort of transboundary fisheries treaty. The easy approach for the spring chinook fishery is to have no sport or commercial mainstem fishery below the I-5 bridge or maybe even below the first dam. The lower river fisheries would be terminal area fisheries in tributaries, with spring chinook hatchery programs, in both states. The only mainstem commercial fishery would be the upriver tribal fishery.

A better approach, but one that would require legislative work, would be a commercial hook and line fishery. Participating boats would require a permit, fishermen would need individual permits, and a strict catch tracking system would be necessary. I would imagine a system that required an immediate jaw tag in a retained fish, logging the boat permit number, fisherman permit number, the jaw tag number and the catch area. Fish could only be sold to licensed buyers and the tracking information would be recorded by the buyers and forwarded to the management agency. A landing tax on the fish sold could be directed to pay for the program. That would be a balanced solution with several advantages. The gillnet bycatch of wild salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon would be eliminated, bycatch would be treated the same as in the sports fishery. Immediate tracking of the catch would allow in season management as catch quotas were approached. If weak stocks were a concern genetic samples could be taken at the buyers. The program last year in the California coastal troll fishery demonstrated a turn around time of about two day to analyze samples and get info to the managers. The permit fees should be high enough to insure that only serious commercial fishermen would participate. I don't think there could be a more balanced approach. Sports and commercial fisheries would be almost identical except one would be more expensive to participate in, with the pay back based on fishing skill, proximity to the fishery, and a conservation ethic that promoted good fish runs.